Not Another Sasuke Fangirl
by I.Deal.In.Dreams
Summary: "Let me get this straight, Tenten. You want to pretend to be my…" Sasuke struggled to spit out the distasteful syllables, "…FANGIRL…to make Neji jealous?" And so begins a story of love, chaos, misunderstandings and tomatoes. NejiTen, SasuSaku.
1. I Am Over Him

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto (yet).

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><p>Through a gap in the bushes, Sakura's green eyes narrowed dangerously. It was the fourth day this week that Sasuke had been training with Tenten. Which also meant it was the fourth day this week that Sakura had been spying on them.<p>

She shouldn't care. She really shouldn't. After all, she was over him. OVER HIM (at least, this was what she told herself as she brushed her hair every morning, jerking hard at the ends of her ninja headband to squeeze some sense into her big forehead). Outwardly, she was doing quite well. She nodded brusquely at him when they crossed paths on the bridge, mumbled a toneless greeting when they stood in line at the grocery store, and – best of all – she hadn't peeled a single apple for him during his month-long hospital stay after Naruto had brought him back to Konoha. But inwardly…inwardly, Sakura was still as weak as the coddled, overprotected twelve-year-old she had once been. And there was nothing that nettled eighteen-year-old Sakura more than weakness. Not Ino, not Naruto, not even Kakashi-sensei's chronic tardiness.

Sakura's lips curved into a small, unbidden frown as she watched Sasuke gracefully dodge Tenten's barrage of weapons, his Sharingan catching every tiny flicker of movement. The way they moved together – so fluidly, so flawlessly – it made them seem like they fit together perfectly.

Tenten's mouth moved as she said something to Sasuke. An all-too-familiar smirk touched Sasuke's lips, and he shot back a reply. Without even realizing it, Sakura clenched her fists. _What could they possibly be talking about?_

-x-

Tenten threw fifteen shuriken at Sasuke in quick succession. She shook her head in amusement as he easily dodged all fifteen, even blocking one with his kunai and ricocheting it back at her. She ducked, and the shuriken whizzed over her head. "Why do you even train with me? My weapons are no match against your Sharingan."

He smirked at her. "Because you don't talk much." As he helped her retrieve her fallen shuriken, he arched a single black eyebrow. "Until today."

Tenten shot him an annoyed glance. That was the most words the Uchiha had managed to string together since they had started training together.

"Besides," he said, tossing her shuriken to her, "Since Neji went on that solo mission, and Lee is always training with Gai, you haven't had a training partner."

Tenten looked down at the shuriken in her hands, turning them so that they glinted in the sun. Ever since Neji had made jonin, he had been going on more and more solo missions. She would never admit it to anyone, but she missed their training sessions, when it was just the two of them. She missed trying in vain to crack his "ultimate defense" and sharing rice balls during lunch and complaining good-naturedly about Lee.

Tenten glanced at Sasuke out of the corner of her eye. As much as he was like Neji in demeanor, training with him just wasn't the same. And Tenten had a sneaking suspicion that no matter whom she trained with, no one would ever be the same.

"We won't be training together much longer anyway."

Tenten looked up at Sasuke in surprise. She could probably add up all the words he had said to her in the years she'd known him, and it would fall short of all the words he was saying to her today.

"Once Neji comes back, he'll snatch you away faster than Lee's Leaf Hurricane," Sasuke continued, nonchalantly stuffing his hands into his pockets. "He's rather like a jealous boyfriend in that respect."

Tenten jerked back. "Neji and I…w-we're not like that," she managed.

Sasuke smirked, his eyebrow going up again in that infuriating arch. "Oh?"

"We're friends. That's all," Tenten said stubbornly. She shifted uncomfortably as Sasuke pinned her with his Sharingan. Sometimes, she felt like his eyes could see more than just physical motion.

"Is that so?" he drawled. His eyes returned to their normal impassive obsidian as he turned away. He started to walk away, but not before flicking her a casual look over his shoulder. "Is that the way you want it to be?"

A blush crawled rebelliously onto Tenten's cheeks. She clutched the shuriken tighter in her palm. "W-why would I want it to be otherwise?" Her voice wavered, giving herself away.

"Hn. Whatever you say." He turned again and began walking again. "Meet me here again tomorrow, same time."

The shuriken were digging into her palm now, she was gripping them so tightly. "Sasuke!" she called out before her brain fully caught up to her mouth.

He stopped, but didn't turn around. "What is it?"

Tenten took a deep breath. "I need your help."

-x-

Sasuke watched the clouds filter through the pink and orange dusk. He was leaning against a tree at the training grounds, his arms crossed loosely across his chest, as he listened to Tenten blabber on.

"I would never forgive myself if I didn't try. We only have one life, and a ninja's life is short as it is…" she was saying, her hands gesturing wildly. "I mean, Ino swears by this method, and she's an expert on guys."

_I don't know about that_, Sasuke mused, a small smirk curving his lips. _After all, she never got ME._

Tenten was still talking at a hundred miles an hour. "After Ino started flirting with Kiba, Shikamaru finally got off his lazy butt to ask her out. And even Naruto got it through his thick skull to date Hinata after she began hanging out with Shino. And don't even get me started on Genma and Shizune. He was all over her after Raido sent her flowers that one time."

Sasuke grimaced (which, for him, wasn't much of a change from his usual expression). It seemed like everyone in Konoha was coupling up these days. Everyone except him. And Sakura. Hn. No doubt she _wanted_ them to be a couple. Although… Sasuke frowned. She hadn't really been paying him any attention since he'd returned. She didn't follow him around, or give him flowers, or fuss over his every little scratch. Come to think of it, it's been years since he'd heard the annoying "kun" tacked on to his name…

"Sasuke. Sasuke? SASUKE!"

_Whoosh_. "Hey!" he snapped, glowering at the kunai Tenten had embedded in the tree behind him, way to close to his head for comfort.

"Whoops! My hand slipped," she said in an irritating singsong voice, twirling another kunai on her fingertips.

Sasuke glared at her. It looked like Shino was the only training partner in Konoha who wouldn't annoy him.

Tenten crossed her arms, her face suddenly becoming serious. "So. Will you helped me or not?"

Sasuke sighed. Shikamaru had a point. Why were girls so…_troublesome_? He pushed off from the tree and looked Tenten in the eye. "Let me get this straight. You want to pretend to be my…" He struggled to spit the word out, his tongue refusing to form the distasteful syllables, "…my _fangirl_…just so Hyuga will become jealous and fall in love with you?"

Two pink spots popped up on Tenten's cheeks even as she scowled at him. "You don't have to put it like _that_."

"And on top of that," he continued as if he hadn't heard her. "You want to become some sort of…_girly girl_…who wears short skirts and make-up." Again, he had to pause and force his mouth to form the words.

Tenten bit her lip. "Well, Ino said –"

But before she could continue, Sasuke shrugged and pulled her kunai from the tree, tossing it to her in one fluid motion. "I'll help you." He turned and headed toward the border of the training grounds.

"You – you will?" Tenten asked his retreating back.

He didn't even pause in his steps. "It's always entertaining to toy with Hyuga."

"Wait, I –" Tenten called out, but Sasuke had already disappeared.

"THANK YOU!" she yelled into the empty air.

-x-

Sakura slumped down in her position behind the bushes. She hadn't heard a word of Sasuke and Tenten's conversation, but she couldn't miss Tenten's shouted thanks as they parted ways. Sakura squeezed her eyes shut. _I am strong, I am strong, I am strong_, she repeated to herself.

_I am over him, I am over him, I am over him. _

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Thank you all for reading the first chapter of my very first fanfic! *blushes and pokes fingers together like Hinata* I love NejiTen and I love SasuSaku, but what I love most is NejiTen and SasuSaku all rolled into the same story. Yep, I'm a shipping addict…did you guys catch the implied NaruHina and ShikaIno? *grins* Anyway, please review! (I'm also a praise addict…but constructive criticism is also welcome, of course).


	2. Fangirls: Real and Fake

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto (yet).

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><p>Neji was in a good mood.<p>

The sky was cloudless, the flowers were blooming, and he had not miscounted a single bird within a 50-meter radius, despite his Byakugan's blind spot. But best of all, he was finally going home. Home to the Leaf Village's cheerful, colorful buildings. Home to team dinners at Ichiraku. Home to sparring (physically and verbally) with the two Green Beasts of Konoha.

And home to training sessions with Tenten.

Neji smiled (only slightly – he didn't believe in appearing TOO happy) as he strolled down the road, the pack slung over his shoulder suddenly feeling much lighter. Yes, he was in a very good mood.

"NEJI-KUN!"

Neji stiffened. Or rather, he _had been_ in a very good mood. Using the past perfect verb tense always meant bad news.

A hand with nails painted a flagrant scarlet color clamped onto his right arm. "Wait for me!"

Seconds later, his left arm was rudely jostled by another hand, this time with nails painted purple with small daisy decals. "Get off of him, Ishiko. Neji-kun's MINE."

Neji saw a flash of red as Ishiko's hand shot out to push Miyuki. "_You_ get off, Miyuki! Neji-kun would never want to be with someone like you!"

A purple flash sliced the air in front of Neji's face as Miyuki grabbed a handful of Ishiko's hair.

"He's mine!"

"No, he's mine!"

"Mine!"

"MINE!"

"You little slut, I'm going to –"

"Girls – PLEASE." Neji clamped a hand on each of their wrists and bodily removed the two fighting fangirls. "We are almost at the gates of the Hidden Rain Village. I am going to return you home safely, and then I will depart for Konoha."

Ishiko and Miyuki looked crestfallen. "But Neji-kun…" they whined simultaneously.

Miyuki blinked up at him with vacant violet eyes. "Stay with us in the Hidden Rain Village, Neji-kun! We'll make you so happy you won't even remember Konoha!"

Ishiko nodded vigorously, agreeing with her rival fangirl for once. "Yes, Neji-kun. You saved us from the scary Sound-nin – you're our hero!"

Neji closed his eyes and sighed. He really had to stop playing the hero all the time; it was such a nuisance. He could have been at the gates of Konoha by now if he hadn't stopped to rescue Ishiko and Miyuki, two empty-headed kunoichi from the Rain Village, from a band of Sound ninja.

"Oh, Neji-kun – your eyes are so beautiful! Don't tell us that we'll never be able to look into them again." Ishiko latched onto him, her scarlet fingernails digging painfully into his arm.

Miyuki, not wanting to be left out, dug her nails into Neji's other arm. "Shut it Ishiko. Only _I'm_ allowed to tell Neji-kun how penetrating and pearly his eyes are." She sighed dreamily.

Neji cleared his throat and quickened his pace.

But the girls held on like leeches sucking the blood dry from a beleaguered victim. Miyuki stroked her hand through Neji's hair. "This is the most lustrous hair I have ever seen. The Leaf Village doesn't deserve it!"

Neji flinched at her touch. The pack slung over his shoulder was beginning to feel distressingly heavy again.

Ishiko giggled. "And his chest!" She slid a coy glance at him from under her lashes. "The muscles in his chest are so defined…so _gorgeous_."

Neji, who had been moving at a brisk and clipping pace, stopped in his tracks. "My – my chest?" he managed in a strangled voice. "How did you –"

Miyuki smiled and swatted him playfully. "Neji-kun, you're such a genius! Well, you've caught us… Ishiko and I were hiding in the bushes by the river yesterday when you were taking your bath."

Neji stared at her in wide-eyed horror.

A cat-like smile stretched across Miyuki's face. "Don't worry, Neji-kun. You were already in the water when we got there, and a bee stung Ishiko right before you got out." She paused to shoot a death glare at the other fangirl. "So we didn't get to see much."

Ishiko had a dreamy look on her face. "…Except your long, wet hair clinging to your god-like chest…and your sculpted shoulders gleaming in the moonlight…"

Hyuga Neji, who never once allowed shock or surprise to overtake his impassive features, felt his jaw drop.

Ishiko was still waxing rhapsodic. "…and the long, smooth column of your neck…and the sleekness of your defined abdomen…"

Neji was sure of it. This was his punishment for smirking at the Uchiha every time he passed a pack of his fangirls.

"…and your toned biceps coated with a sheen of river water…"

Desperate times called for desperate measures.

"Girls," he began, clearing his throat uncomfortably. "I would like to inform you that I have a…a…" He cleared his throat again.

"A girlfriend." The word sounded awkward on his tongue, clumsy and uneasy, like it didn't belong there.

Ishiko and Miyuki gasped. "No! Neji-kun, you're breaking our hearts!"

He trained his gaze straight forward. "I'm afraid it's true."

Miyuki stared at him with tear-filled eyes. "Well, who is it? Who is it that's taking our beautiful Neji-kun away from us?"

Neji had planned on ignoring her, he really did. But the name slipped out of his mouth before his mind could protest.

"Her name is Tenten."

This time, the words didn't feel awkward or clumsy at all. Rather, it felt like they had been sitting inside of him all along, waiting to be said.

The moment his mind caught up, Neji suffered a bout of total inner panic. (His face remained as emotionless as ever, of course). It didn't mean anything that he had said Tenten was his girlfriend. It was an act of self-defense. Self-defense! Surely no one could protest that infallible reasoning.

What was he expected to do when put on the spot? It was only natural that he should name his sole female teammate. It was as natural as saying that Sakura or Ino was his girlfriend. As natural as going into his kaiten whenever weapons were hurled at him. As natural as the leaves on the swaying trees that dotted the road.

At least, that was what Neji told himself all the way to the gates of Konoha.

-x-

Tenten gulped as she stared at the monstrous collection of frilly tops and gaudy skirts that lined the walls of the shop.

"Ino?" she ventured timidly. "I want to go home."

Ino's aqua-colored eyes narrowed dangerously as she grabbed Tenten's arm, forcibly dragging her back into the store. "No, Tenten! It's a crime against fashion to allow you to return to that tomboyish closet of yours. We need to get you some _real_ clothes."

Tenten groaned as Ino loaded up on short skirts and minidresses. "Here. Hold these." Ino dumped the pile of clothes into Tenten's arms. It was the size of Chouji…post-expansion-jutsu. Tenten noted with dismay that the pile was predominately pink.

"Besides," Ino shot over her shoulder as she unloaded a mountain of low-cut tops into Tenten's arms, "it was _you_ who asked _me_ to take you shopping for some 'nice girly clothes', remember?"

Tenten nodded in resignation as she followed Ino deeper into the shop of girly horrors. This was all Sasuke's fault…

-x-

_"Sasuke? I know this might be a touchy topic for you…but what do fangirls usually wear?" Tenten and Sasuke were at the training grounds, retrieving her weapons after they had finished sparring._

_He grunted but was otherwise silent. It wasn't until after he had retrieved her katana that he finally spoke. "I don't know. Ask Ino."_

_Tenten smiled. "Ino – of course! She used to be one of your most devoted fangirls before she started going out with Shikamaru. They're so in love now that it completely slipped my mind." She had been about to let the topic drop when another thought struck her. "Hey, what about Sakura? Do you think she'll have any ideas?"_

_She was surprised to see Sasuke jolt and drop the handful of senbon in his hands. He stared at the scattered senbon needles for a long time before speaking._

_"I don't think so."_

_Tenten was about to ask him more, but she stopped when he abruptly turned his back and crouched down to pick up the fallen senbon._

_She had thought their conversation all but over when he suddenly spoke again, his voice soft in the waning light._

_"She won't – not anymore."_

-x-

And so, after five hours of grueling shopping, Tenten found herself the owner of three halter tops, two scandalous dresses, five blouses, six dangerously short skirts, four pairs of uncomfortable shoes, and one staggering credit card bill.

She was ready.

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Hope you all enjoyed this installment of "Not Another Sasuke Fangirl." Thank you so much for the wonderful reviews…and SmilesLasting for the best first review ever! (They totally inspired me to finish the second chapter in record time). I guess I was suffering from Neji withdrawal in the first chapter…so I had to make up for it with the Neji fangirls in this chapter. :) And I just couldn't resist the little hint of SasuSaku… Reviews welcome and encouraged! Thanks for reading!


	3. One Too Many

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto (yet).

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><p>The first person Neji ran into when he returned to Konoha was Uzumaki Naruto.<p>

"NEJI!" A burst of orange materialized in front of Neji as he stepped through the front gates. It was a relief not to hear the "kun" attached to his name, even if it did come from the Leaf Village's most annoying shinobi.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't our resident hotshot jonin. Finally back from your mission, huh?" Naruto's grin was contagious, and Neji couldn't help but offer a small smile in return.

"Naruto." He nodded politely at the blond boy. "How is it going?" One must always be cordial to the comrade who brought one out of the darkness, even if the aforementioned comrade was dating one's gentle, kind-hearted cousin.

"It's been going great!" Naruto replied enthusiastically. "I've been training a lot lately, learning some new moves." A sudden smile creased his face. "And I'm taking Hinata out to dinner tonight!"

Neji's eyes sharpened. "Don't try anything funny," he warned, "or I will block off every one of your chakra points and kaiten a 30-foot crater into your gut."

Naruto wasn't even fazed. He was used to getting threatened by Neji on a daily (sometimes even hourly) basis. He simply laughed and gave Neji a wave as he turned away. "I've got to run. Granny Tsunade wants to see me about something. Catch ya later, Mr. Hotshot!"

Neji shook his head as he watched the orange speck disappear in the distance, but his lips curved into a smile nonetheless.

The second person Neji ran into when he returned to Konoha was Haruno Sakura.

"Neji!" The pink-haired kunoichi bumped into him just as he was walking past the hospital. "You're finally back! It's a relief that you returned walking on your own two legs, instead of carried in on a stretcher, like your last mission." She shot him an admonishing look, but the smile she gave him was genuinely pleased.

"Hello, Sakura. It's good to see you."

"It's good to see you too, Neji." Sakura fell into step beside him. "You must be famished after all that travel! I'm going to Ichiraku for lunch. You should come – I'll treat you to a bowl."

Neji nodded, not bothering with words. They fell into a comfortable silence as they made their way to the ramen stand.

Sakura had changed since their genin days. She was stronger, more independent, less annoying. Although her eyes had a sadder and more serious cast than before, they were more real, more genuine. Nothing like the shiny, guileless green she used to beam onto "Sasuke-kun."

The rookies had all grown up…even Naruto. Especially Naruto. As Neji walked with Sakura to Ichiraku, he realized that he couldn't have asked for better comrades.

The third person Neji ran into when he returned to Konoha turned out to be one person too many.

Neji and Sakura spotted (or rather, heard) the screaming crowd of fangirls surrounding Uchiha Sasuke at the same time. The moody, black-haired boy was sitting at Ichiraku in front of a steaming bowl of noodles, industriously ignoring the date requests and marriage proposals thrown his way.

It was all quite typical…except for one tiny detail.

Neji's mouth opened and closed without making any sound.

Beside him, Sakura seemed to be suffering the same difficulty. "Is…is that…_Tenten_?" she finally managed. "What is she _wearing_?"

"Gah…gah…" Neji was unable to form a coherent reply. Mainly due to the fact that there were no coherent thoughts in his head.

Because sitting next to Sasuke, latched onto his right arm, was Tenten.

In a minidress.

-x-

Tenten tugged self-consciously at her new red minidress. The material rode up when she sat down, and for a girl who wore pants year-round, Tenten didn't feel comfortable baring her legs in such a public place, surrounded by at least a dozen fangirls. Although compared to what those fangirls were wearing, Tenten might as well have been a nun who had never been let out of her convent.

But even so…Tenten frowned down at the sweetheart neckline of the strapless dress. A few flirty waves had been loosened from her buns, and they now framed her shoulders, designed to draw attention to her…uh…womanly assets. Ino (who had no idea of Tenten's true intentions) had helped her style her hair just an hour before.

Ino had winked right before shooing Tenten out the door. "The boys will be dropping dead at your feet," Ino had assured her.

There was only one boy Tenten wanted to drop at her feet…and she didn't exactly want him dead. Besides, there would be no dropping (dead or otherwise) today, since Neji wasn't due back home until next week. Today was just a dress rehearsal.

"Sasuke-kun!" she squealed, trying not to choke in disgust on the sugary honorific. She pushed away two particularly persistent fangirls (ninja training had its benefits) and grabbed his arm. "Let me feed you your noodles!"

Sasuke didn't even spare her a glance as one eyebrow rocketed straight up. It was his small sign of being amused.

"Sasuke-kun…" she whined. "Why won't you ever look at me? Does my dress displease you?" Tenten forced her mouth into a pout. After Ino had attacked her with her entire cosmetics collection, Tenten's lips were coated in a shiny layer of Risky Business raspberry lip gloss. It was the lesser evil, seeing that the other lip glosses that Ino had threatened to use on her were named things like "Pillow Talk," "Orgasm," and "Supervixen."

Sasuke's chopsticks paused in picking up a noodle strand as he smirked, still not looking at her. Yep, he was definitely amused.

"Sas –" Tenten started again, but was cut off by a scream from a redhead in the back.

"MARRY ME, SASUKE-KUN! I LOVE YOU!"

Tenten winced. So this is what Sasuke went through on a daily basis… And she'd wondered why he left Konoha in the first place.

"You went out of character."

Tenten glanced at Sasuke in surprise. It was the first words he'd said all day. Taking the hint, she quickly transformed her grimace into a syrupy sweet smile.

"Sorry," she muttered through her smile. "Even I couldn't mask my disgust at that sickening display of devotion."

"Well, try," he said under his breath, "because your little dress rehearsal…just turned real."

-x-

Sakura watched Tenten and Sasuke whisper to each other across his steaming bowl of ramen. They seemed like they were in their own little world, untouched and unbothered by the shrieking fangirls around them.

She cringed as marriage proposals were shouted out from every corner of the ramen stand, clogging the air with their shallowness and superficiality. She had been like that once upon a time. She had loved Sasuke for his looks, his grace, and his bad-boy aura, not bothering to dig deeper and look further.

But now…

_Now you like him for more than his looks?_ Inner Sakura suggested.

_No!_ she argued back furiously._ Now I don't like him AT ALL!_

Inner Sakura shrugged and retreated back to the corner of Sakura's mind. _Whatever you say…_

Sakura couldn't take it anymore. She couldn't stand here and watch Sasuke whisper more words to Tenten in one lunchtime than he'd ever said to Sakura in an entire lifetime.

"I-I've got to go," she blurted out, barely sparing a glance at the frozen Neji. "Uh…hospital…er…forgot…my shift." She backed away a few steps before pivoting and fleeing down the road.

Sakura was known more for her strength than her speed, but that day, to the stunned civilians crowding the streets, she was an unidentifiable red blur.

-x-

Without even realizing it, Neji had activated his Byakugan. His gaze drove right into the heart of the crowd of underdressed fangirls, where Tenten was clutching the Uchiha's arm like he was mankind's last salvation. Sasuke tilted his head an almost imperceptible fraction of a degree and spoke to Tenten out of the side of his mouth.

Hn. Uchiha probably thought he was being oh-so-sneaky, but Neji didn't have the Hyuga clan's Kekkei Genkai for nothing.

Neji also didn't have the Hyuga clan's stone-faced impassivity for nothing, which didn't explain the strange feeling burning away at his chest. Was it irritation? No, it was too strong, too intense. Was it anger? That seemed a little closer to the mark, but still…anger was an irrational feeling, born from the seeds of emotion and passion. And Neji was cool, analytical, and – above all – rational. So what was it, then? It couldn't be…

…_Jealousy_?

As soon as the thought snuck into his mind, Neji beat it back. No. No! Jealousy was for rash and unthinking fools. He was called a genius. And therefore, he could not be a rash and unthinking fool.

From her position at Sasuke's side, Tenten suddenly jerked and scanned the air frantically. Neji trained his eyes on her, not averting his gaze even when Tenten's anxious eyes clashed with his own. Her mouth widened into a surprised "o". Her eyes followed suit, widening in horror until they became endless pools of deep brown. She looked like she had been caught doing something very, very naughty.

Neji scowled. She _had_ been caught. Flirting with Uchiha Sasuke.

Of all the blockheaded shinobi in the entire village, she had to choose the Uchiha. Neji's scowl deepened.

He had always felt a strange sort of kinship with Sasuke. After all, they were clan prodigies, they possessed brains in addition to excellent shinobi skills, and they had suffered rocky, angst-filled pasts. It was a bonus that they were both proficient in the art of impassivity.

But now, as Neji stood rooted to the spot watching Sasuke and Tenten having an intimate conversation in the middle of a pack of fangirls, he felt a deep and unreasonable fury.

He clenched his fists and strode forward.

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Ahhh! Don't kill me for not having Neji and Tenten talk yet! Mostly because I have yet to figure out what they'll say to each other. But don't worry – I promise that angry words will fly in the next chapter. :) Reviews are my succor, and you guys have been great about leaving super nice and thoughtful comments. Don't be shy – review away!


	4. Late Again

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto (yet).

* * *

><p>Neji peeled off four fangirls that had defected from the Uchiha camp and attached themselves to his arms like mold to bread. Weren't fangirls supposed to be single-minded and stalkerishly devoted? Neji shook his head wearily. He had his own pack of singled-minded and stalkerishly devoted fangirls to worry about; he didn't need Uchiha's as well.<p>

After dodging an incoming gaggle of earsplitting fangirls and narrowly avoiding a bouquet of flowers thrown his way, Neji finally made it to the center of the crowd.

Tenten jerked around to face him as he grabbed her arm without preamble. "N-Neji!" she stammered. "You're back early!"

Neji, only just realizing her arms were bare, dropped her like a paper bomb. "Is that a problem?" he bit out icily. "Perhaps you needed a little more time to let go of all your inhibitions and cavort with Uchiha and his fangirls!" He shot Sasuke a scathing glare that would have incinerated a lesser mortal on the spot.

But Sasuke, being Sasuke, didn't even glance up as he twirled a noodle around his chopsticks. "Hyuga," he acknowledged tonelessly.

In another time, another place, another situation, Neji would have replied with an equally toneless "Uchiha." He might have even sat down and ordered a bowl of herring noodles, and the two would have eaten their lunches in comfortable silence, enjoying the quiet until Naruto inevitably arrived and disrupted the peace.

But he couldn't do that today, especially not with Tenten in a short red minidress and – heavens above, what was that shiny stuff on her lips? – sitting less than a foot away.

"Uchiha, don't you think it's a little shameless parading your crowd of wide-eyed admirers in such a public place?" Neji kept his voice cool and controlled, but inside, he was ready to snap. He refused to acknowledge that Tenten now appeared to be _one_ of those wide-eyed admirers, instead keeping his focus on the aloof, spiky-haired boy. He drilled his eyes into Sasuke, waiting for him to make some bored, flippant remark that would give Neji license to pummel him to the ground.

To Neji's surprise, Sasuke didn't seem to have even heard him. Instead, he was craning his head around Neji, as if looking for something beyond the ramen stand.

Neji frowned. With his Byakugan, he scanned the area behind him, but could find nothing but a thick throng of fangirls. _What could Sasuke possibly be looking for?_

-x-

Damn. Hyuga was blocking his view again.

Sasuke shifted, leaning to the left and trying to see through a gap in the fangirls. Unfortunately, his shift had narrowed the space between him and Tenten. This seemed to bring the perplexed Hyuga to his senses, and Sasuke found his field of vision cut off once again.

"Uchiha. Are you listening to me?" A note of impatience had crept into Neji's voice.

Sasuke ignored him. He leaned to the right, furrowing his forehead in concentration. He was _sure_ he had seen her. Pink hair didn't pop up just anywhere.

He stood up to peer over the heads of his fangirls, scanning the streets. Blond hair, black hair, brown hair, purple hair, green hair. But no pink hair.

Sasuke told himself he was only looking for her because his eyes usually caught everything. Because he was 99.99% certain he had seen her standing next to Neji (what was she doing with _him_ anyway?) and he had not seen her leave. So truthfully, he was only looking for her out of curiosity. More out of curiosity regarding his own skills than out of curiosity about _her_.

"Uchiha! I'm talking to you," the Hyuga snapped.

Sasuke barely heard him. "I have to go," he said, more to himself than anyone else. He stood up, and the crowd of fangirls parted like the Red Sea.

Neji scarcely had time to yell "Uchiha, get back here! We're not finished!" before Sasuke disappeared down the road, single-minded determination evident in his stride.

Sasuke found her at the training grounds where Kakashi had taught him the chidori. Except…the looming, jagged rocks that had once populated the area were gone. Reduced to rubble. By…Sakura's fists?

If Sasuke were a more emotive person (say, like Naruto or Lee), he would have gaped. But since he was Sasuke, he simply stared. It was déjà vu all over again, with his twelve-year-old self watching Naruto defeat Gaara as he, spent and powerless from his chidori, lay useless on a tree branch.

When had his other teammate finally caught up? When had she gotten so powerful?

Of course, he had heard about her superhuman strength from Naruto. But Naruto always exaggerated. And Kakashi might have mentioned it once or twice, but Sasuke had chalked it up to his old sensei trying to patch up Team 7 by getting him to see his female teammate in a new light.

He felt a slight twinge of annoyance at missing the years of her development, at not being able to watch her train and get stronger day by day.

_There is still time_, a small voice in his mind whispered. All he had to do was step out of the shadows of the practice grounds and ask her to train with him. A single step, a single word. That was all he needed.

But as Sasuke watched her smash rock after rock to smithereens, he found that his legs refused to move. And when they finally did move, they moved back in the direction he came.

Sasuke walked away on silent feet, long and forlorn shadows stretching behind his back. If he had spoken to Sakura, if he had lowered himself to the point of actually initiating a conversation with her, she probably would have reverted right back to the lovesick genin she had once been, fussing over him, making meaningless promises, never bothering to find out who he truly was inside. Generally annoying him from dawn until dusk.

And that was the last thing he wanted.

…Right?

-x-

Neji watched Sasuke high tail it down the road, wondering why the Uchiha seemed so…un-Uchiha.

Tenten watched Neji watch Sasuke high tail it down the road, wondering if her plan had worked.

Using his Byakugan, Neji watched Tenten watch him watch Sasuke high tail it down the road, wondering whether he should yell at her now, later, or both.

Tenten opened her mouth to speak, but she was cut off by a painful grip on her wrist. She winced as Neji's fingers tightened their hold.

"Wh-where are we going?" she wheezed as she was yanked like a rag doll through the horde of Sasuke-turned-Neji fangirls.

"To your apartment." Neji's voice was cold, clipped, and automatic.

"Why?"

She crashed into his back when he stopped abruptly. "So you can change out of that…_ridiculous_…get-up of yours," he snapped.

Tenten's cheeks flamed. She was never trusting Ino again. The blond had told her that this red minidress had a 100% success rate (much like Tenten's aim) – meaning, no boy was impervious to it. It was true that when she was walking down the street, Naruto had whistled, Kiba had winked, Jiraiya had ogled (which didn't mean a lot), and Shino had raised his eyebrows (which _did_ mean a lot)… But all those reactions were probably born more out of surprise than anything else. And Sasuke's eyes hadn't even flickered when she'd shown up at Ichiraku…so why did she think that Neji would be any different?

"Besides," Neji was saying, as he threaded through the crush, "I can't reprimand you properly with all of Uchiha's fangirls screaming in my ear."

Tenten grimaced as a cacophony of "NEJI-KUN"s assaulted her eardrums. "They're not Sasuke's fangirls anymore," she pointed out. "They're yours."

_Including this one_, she thought quietly to herself.

Tenten thought she heard Neji grumble something about "punishment" and "laughing at Uchiha," but she didn't pursue the topic further, letting him silently drag her through the crowd.

The first thought Neji had when the fangirls' squeals finally died down enough for him to hear himself think again was that he was going to fight Naruto for the position of Sixth Hokage.

Because once he was the Hokage, he would ban strapless red minidresses with sweetheart necklines from the entirety of Konoha. And while he was at it, he'd legalize putting restraining orders on fangirls across all of Fire Country (_and beyond_, he added, remembering the Rain kunoichi). And just for good measure, he would make it impossible for Naruto to take Hinata out to dinner without a minimum of two ANBU keeping an eye on them at all times.

Only then – and then only – would he happily relinquish his position to Naruto (because in all seriousness, the idiot really did deserve to be Hokage someday).

But the red minidresses had to go.

Neji nearly leapt out of his shoes when Tenten placed her small, fine-boned (deadly, weapon-wielding) hand on his sleeve. He could feel it burning through the thin white fabric, sending tiny shock waves through his entire nervous system. In a moment of desperation, he shook her off.

When he turned back, he immediately regretted his actions. Tenten's eyes were glassy and wide and filled with hurt. Hurt…because of him?

Neji flattened his mouth into a thin, unyielding line and turned forward again. It was probably just residual disappointment that the Uchiha hadn't fallen head over heels for her and her red minidress. He hadn't pinned Tenten for the shallow type, but after seeing the way she'd acted today… If it had taught him anything, it was that seven years wasn't enough time to truly get to know a person.

"Neji…"

He stiffened as her voice wrapped around him like a soft blanket.

"I just wanted to say –" Her words suddenly stopped, as if a katana had sliced her sentence halfway through.

Curiosity overrode Neji's pride (and, being a Hyuga, he had _a lot_ of pride). He swiveled around to face Tenten. "What? What is it?"

Two rival emotions were warring on her face. Neji scanned her features, searching for a clue. He deflated as her face settled into an expression of resignation.

"I just wanted to say…that I'm glad you're back," she said softly.

It was an empty filler sentence, no matter how true, and they both knew it. They walked in silence the rest of the way. Tenten noticed that Neji's fingers were still wrapped loosely around her wrist, unconsciously steering her through the midday crowd. But he didn't seem to realize that he was still holding on to her, so she kept her mouth shut.

It wasn't until they arrived at her doorstep that Neji finally noticed their half-hand-holding. He dropped her wrist like she had suddenly contracted the plague. Biting her lip, Tenten fumbled for her keys and stuck them in the keyhole. Just as she cracked her door open, Neji spoke.

"I have something to say to you, too."

Tenten's heart rate quickened. Was this what Ino and Hinata and Shizune had experienced right before their respective other halves had confessed their feelings? Was this going to be the moment Neji told her he was totally and inexplicably in love with her? Had the red minidress actually…_worked_?

Neji trained his gaze on her, his eyes burning like white fire. "Tenten," he said meaningfully.

"Yes?" she breathed.

"I am disappointed in you."

With that, he gently pushed Tenten into her apartment and shut the door in her bewildered face.

"Now go change. _Please_."

-x-

Sasuke's steps faltered.

Damn it. Why was this happening? He never faltered. Not when he was training, not when he was fighting, not even when he left Konoha.

So why here? Why now?

Why was he looping around in a circle, slowly making his way back to the training grounds?

And why had his feet suddenly picked up the pace out of their own volition?

And _why the hell_ was he now sprinting into the rocky training area, skidding to a stop right between two chakra-blasted boulders?

But she was already gone. He was too late.

And not for the first time.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Hi guys! Hope you are all enjoying the juicy development! You might be wondering why there is no Sai or Yamato or other Shippuden-ish stuff in this story. Confession time: I haven't actually watched Shippuden yet! I've only truly become a Naruto fan this summer, so I'm still on the tail end of the first Naruto series right now. (I know! It's a crime!) So please forgive me for any unwitting faux pas.

To my wonderful reviewers: Thank you for all your support! It's the fuel that keeps me going :D Oh, and about the requested Sasuke/Neji fight scene? Don't worry - I am practically itching to write one! (My only concern is that it won't live up to expectations.) I'll have to keep you all in suspense for now though, because I'm thinking that Sasuke vs. Neji is more of a climax scene than a story development scene. Blame my inner writer geek!

Questions, concerns, compliments, criticism, or insane Neji/Sasuke fangirl ranting? Please review :)


	5. Words of Advice

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto (yet).

* * *

><p>Neji was relieved when Tenten reappeared in her doorway, buns neatly arranged and face wiped clear of make-up. Most reassuring of all, the strapless red minidress had been replaced by her usual white and burgundy outfit (which showed minimal skin, Neji happily noted).<p>

His tense shoulders finally relaxed, and he rolled them back a few times, straightening the knots out. Now that Tenten had once again become the Tenten he had known and befriended, Neji no longer felt so at edge.

But even so…

Had Tenten gotten a new set of clothes?

He didn't remember her white shirt clinging so close to her slender waist. Or her cropped pants showing her ankles off to such advantage. Or her mandarin collar framing the smooth, white column of her neck.

Neji cleared his throat uncomfortably, opening his mouth to speak. But at that moment, Tenten turned to face him, and the sharp rays of the midday sun caught her headband's flat metal pane. Sunlight reflected onto her hair, making it glow a warm golden brown. Her eyes caught his, and they crinkled in the corners as her mouth smoothed into a smile.

Neji was momentarily blinded.

_It was the sun_, he would later tell himself. _Nothing but the refraction of light waves from the surface of Tenten's headband. Purely science and optics._

"Neji?"

Her voice prodded him out of his trance. He blinked.

"Were you going to say something?" Tenten quirked a single smooth eyebrow. "Or were you planning on catching some flies for lunch?"

Neji snapped his mouth shut, thinning it into a scowl. Crossing his arms across his chest, he met her gaze straight on.

"You're having dinner with me tonight."

Now it was Tenten's turn to catch flies. She gaped at her training-partner-turned-love-interest. Was this some socially-impaired Hyuga method of asking a girl out?

Neji, oblivious to her plight, scowled harder. "Naruto is taking Hinata out to dinner tonight at the new restaurant in town. I want to keep an eye on them, in case the idiot tries anything funny. I need a partner to dispel suspicions."

Tenten felt her heart deflate. She plastered a fake smile on her face and tried to meet his eyes. "You know I can't say no to you, Neji." A soft sigh escaped her lips. "We're teammates, after all."

Neji tilted his chin up a quarter of an inch, acknowledging her words. "I would have asked Lee as well, but you know how he can get…" He trailed off.

Tenten rolled her eyes. "As much as I love him, I think I'll be okay without yet another impassioned lecture about youthfulness and Gai-sensei."

The corner of Neji's lips quirked upward. "After a hour with Lee, I always have to re-teach myself how to use contractions."

For a moment, the two beleaguered teammates shared a look of complete understanding. Until…

Tenten gasped. "Neji! Did you just make a… _joke_?" she asked, her voice pitched high with incredulity.

Within milliseconds, the scowl was back on Neji's face, as if it had never left. He had just opened his mouth to deny Tenten's claim when a new voice pierced the air.

"NEJI, MY ETERNAL RIVAL. YOU HAVE FINALLY RETURNED!"

A long-limbed body clad disconcertingly in tight green spandex flipped down from Tenten's roof and landed in front of Neji.

Neji winced as his eardrums imploded. "Hello Lee."

His "eternal rival" flashed him a blinding smile and a cheesy thumbs-up. "MY YOUTHFUL VIGOR DEMANDS THAT I CHALLENGE YOU TO A DUEL!"

Tenten stared dazedly at Lee's shiny hair, wishing violently for a pair of earplugs. "Lee," she reprimanded. "Remember what we said about using our 'indoor voices'?"

The black-haired boy whipped around. "TENTEN!" he shouted with glee.

Tenten shot him a death glare.

Lee cleared his throat. "Ah, I mean…Tenten!"

Tenten breathed a sigh of relief. "That's better." Over the top of Lee's head, she caught Neji's eyes. _Thank you_, he mouthed to her.

Lee spun around to face Neji again, his arms and legs bending into his trademark taijutsu position. "Accept the duel, my rival! And let us truly see which one of us is the stronger ninja."

Neji sighed. Some things would never change. He walked over toward Lee and calmly lowered his teammate's hands. "I just returned from a mission, Lee. I am too tired to fight."

Tenten hid a smile behind her hand. She wondered if Neji had noticed his use of "I am" instead of the contraction "I'm."

Lee's face fell, his bushy eyebrows visibly dropping. "That is true. I would not want to fight my greatest rival when he is not yet at his full strength."

Neji gently put his hand on Lee's shoulder and led him away from Tenten's doorway. "Why don't you walk with me to my house? You can…uh…challenge yourself to make the entire journey on your hands."

At the mention of "challenging himself," Lee brightened considerably. "You are a genius, Neji! A fitting challenge from my most revered rival."

Neji turned briefly toward Tenten and curved his lips into a shadow of a smile. "8 p.m. – I will see you there," he said briskly before walking away, Lee following closely while balancing precariously on his hands.

Tenten watched Neji's tall, self-assured figure and Lee's comic, upside-down body until they disappeared down the street.

Closing her door with a decisive click, Tenten began sprinting in the opposite direction.

She needed advice. Pronto.

-x-

Sasuke was just leaving the training area, retracing his steps the way he had come, when the ground splintered beneath him.

He barely managed to concentrate chakra to his feet and propel himself into the air before a network of cracks fragmented the earth, transforming it into a sea of choppy rocks. Sasuke backflipped onto one of the few remaining boulders and stared down at the destruction beneath him.

_What the…?_

The shock had barely filtered through his mind when an unmistakable pink haired kunoichi came flying at him from out of nowhere, a flare of blue chakra surrounding her incoming fist.

Sasuke could only stare, dumbfounded, as the fist stopped just short of his nose. With a yelp of surprise, Sakura somersaulted onto another boulder. The chakra disappeared from her fist as she shot him an annoyed scowl.

_Wait a minute…_ Sasuke furrowed his brow. _Shouldn't it be _him_ sending _her_ the annoyed scowls?_

"What are you doing here, Sasuke?" she demanded, the "kun" noticeably absent from his name. "I could have killed you if I hadn't stopped myself just in time." She stared down at her hand, flexing her fingers and readjusting the hand guard.

Sasuke stiffened. She might as well have been examining her fingernails. It was as if his very presence was an irritation.

"It takes a lot more than that to kill _me_," he shot back.

To his satisfaction, Sakura finally looked up from her hands. She met his gaze levelly, her eyes blazing with emerald sparks. "Are you calling me weak?" Her voice held a lethal note.

A smarter person would have fled far, far away for purposes of self-preservation, but Sasuke stood his ground. "You know perfectly well that Naruto and I were always protecting you, constantly rescuing you from certain death."

The fire in her eyes flared dangerously. "That was then," she bit out, blue chakra once again surrounding her, this time at her feet. She drove her right foot into the boulder she was standing on, then flipped straight up into the air. The boulder disintegrated into a million tiny pieces. She landed on his rock, a mere meter away from where he stood.

"_This_ is now."

-x-

Tenten slid to a stop just inside the doorway of the Hokage tower. Panting heavily, she met the bewildered eyes of the person she was looking for. "I…need…to talk…to you," she rasped.

"Tenten!" Shizune exclaimed, concern evident in her face. "You look feverish! Either that, or you're in love."

To Shizune's surprise, the younger girl blushed furiously. Shizune tried to hide a wide grin. She hadn't really believed it possible…but had the Hyuga boy finally come to his senses? Hmmm. Did that mean that Lady Tsunade had actually won a bet for once?

Tenten looked up at Shizune with earnest brown eyes. "I need your advice," she said simply.

Shizune nodded at her to continue.

"So let's say that a certain boy that you…er…like…a lot…" Tenten shifted uncomfortably. "…asked you out on a date…but it's not really a date, and it's actually just a guise to spy on his cousin and her boyfriend." Lifting a hand to her forehead, Tenten pushed her bangs back distractedly. "What would you do?"

The wide smile melted off Shizune's lips. All was still unfortunately normal. Neji was still distressingly oblivious. Tenten was still suffering from unrequited love. Tsunade was still losing her bets.

"So you're saying that Ne-, I mean _this boy_, only sees you as a friend?" Shizune asked hesitantly.

Tenten nodded, not catching Shizune's slip. "But I kind of, you know, want it to be _more_." She sighed, reflexively fingering the beloved weapons pouch attached to her waist. "Shizune…do you remember how, right before you and Genma became official, Raido sent you that beautiful bouquet of flowers?"

Shizune almost laughed out loud. Making Genma jealous had been so much _fun_.

Tenten continued. "Well, how did you get Genma to see you as a potential girlfriend, not as just a friend?"

"Easy," Shizune answered flippantly, waving a hand in the air. A mischievous light twinkled in her eyes. "I just went on and on and on about Raido's disarming appeal and excellent shinobi skills and, of course, his sexy scar…and before I knew it, Genma and I had become an item."

She smiled down at Tenten, whose eyes were as round as saucers. "That's just half of it, of course. The more important thing was that –"

But she was cut of by the young kunoichi. "ThankyousomuchShizune, I'vegottogonow, bye!"

"But –" Shizune started, only to be interrupted by Tenten's footsteps pounding down the road, away from the Hokage's residence.

Shizune shook her head. Young people these days were so impatient! Always in a hurry, rushing haphazardly through life, never bothering to pause.

Oh well. Lessons in love had to be learned the hard way.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>I recently read something along the lines of: "Dare to confess your love in the Naruto series and you'll get knocked out, ignored, accused of making it up or told '_Sorry, can't, too much angst, I'll protect you though.'_ It's** never** '_Huh, you know, this could actually work_.'" Well, I am here to tell you…that's what fanfiction is for! Making it "actually work." Truthfully, writing "Not Another Sasuke Fangirl" is making me really happy. And my greatest hope is that it's making you guys really happy as well! Uh…if you're happy and you know it, clap your hands…and review! :)


	6. Falling  For You?

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto (yet).

* * *

><p>Sasuke stared at Sakura. Sakura stared at Sasuke. Neither moved; neither spoke.<p>

Sakura could feel her fingernails digging into her palm. All these years…and it seemed that nothing had changed.

Sasuke was still a complete and utter jerk.

"It takes a lot more than that to kill _me_," she mimicked in a lofty, arrogant voice. "You know _perfectly_ well that Naruto and I were always protecting you." Sakura's hands clenched as she parroted Sasuke's words back at him.

It was mean and petty of her, but Sakura didn't particularly care. She was tired of being the meek and fragile one, the one who always needed to be protected. The one that Kakashi-sensei was forever patting on the head, followed by a "Don't worry, Sakura. Let me take care of it."

She turned away angrily. "I don't need protecting anymore, you know."

There was a long, tense beat of silence.

"I know."

His voice was low and soft, catching Sakura when she least expected it. She lifted her head to look at him. "You…you do?"

Sasuke's dark eyes didn't waver from her searching gaze. "Maybe I've always known."

Sakura took a step back in surprise, forgetting that she had decimated most of the terrain. For one terrifying second, her foot was suspended in midair…and then she fell, tumbling backwards over the edge of the giant boulder.

Before she could even blink, Sasuke disappeared before her eyes, and Sakura could suddenly feel the rock beneath her feet again. She stared at Sasuke's hand, now interlinked with hers, the hand that had dragged her back up and stolen her away from gravity's clutches.

The hand that had protected her yet again.

"You don't need protecting anymore, huh?" he drawled, not bothering to remove his hand from hers.

Sakura blushed furiously, whether from humiliation or from the reassuring warmth of Sasuke's hand, she wasn't sure. She stared at their intertwined fingers. It was symbolic of a bond. A bond that neither of them wanted, a bond that neither of them particularly even deserved.

She tugged her hand away.

"I was just about to focus chakra to my feet and run up the side of the boulder," she said hotly. "You just happened to grab me before I could."

Sasuke studied the distance that was once again between them before turning away, his back facing the setting sun. "It's getting late. You should go home."

"No," she told him. "I'm going to train a little longer."

He glanced over his shoulder, his black eyes catching hers for a fleeting second. And then he was walking away again, his steps silent and steady. "Hn. Suit yourself."

"I will!" Sakura shouted at his retreating back. "I'll prove to everyone…just how strong I am!"

Sasuke watched the pink sky slowly give way to dusky purple. _You don't need to prove anything to me, Sakura._

-x-

"You're late," Neji said flatly as Tenten slid into their restaurant booth.

Tenten glanced down at her watch. It was 7:55. "Uh…actually, I believe I'm five minutes _early_."

"Hn." Neji scoffed at her. "That means you're ten minutes late."

Tenten threw her hands up in mock surrender. She would never understand the particulars of Neji-time. At least Neji-time was preferable to Kakashi-time, if all of Naruto's raucous complaining was to be believed.

The second Tenten's hands went up into the air, her brand new T-shirt was left in plain view. She froze, holding her breath for Neji's reaction.

Ten and three-quarters seconds ticked away in Tenten's head. (She prided herself on being extremely precise). Time crawled by like snails on sleeping pills as Tenten searched Neji's impassive features, waiting for something…_anything_. It was like the tense, deadly silence right before a thunderstorm.

And just like that, the storm began.

"Tenten," Neji bit out, his tone eerily calm. "Please explain why you are wearing a shirt THAT HAS THE UCHIHA'S FACE PLASTERED ACROSS THE FRONT." His voice, which had started out so rigid and controlled, jumped ten decibels.

Tenten glanced warily at Neji's knuckles, which were turning white as his fingers clenched the edge of the table. Had she gone too far this time?

Clenching her jaw resolutely, Tenten mentally shook her head. She was going to see this self-assigned mission through to the end.

"Oh, this?" she asked innocently, gesturing at her fangirl T-shirt, making sure her fingers highlighted the overly cheerful "I love Sasuke-kun!" dancing across the top. "It was a complimentary gift."

Neji's eyes narrowed. "A…gift?"

"Yup," Tenten said, injecting her voice with fake enthusiasm, "Every new member to the Sasuke Fan Club of Konoha gets one upon entry into the organization." She paused thoughtfully. "They're thinking of establishing branches in the other shinobi villages as well, since Sasuke has such a global appeal."

Tenten heard an ominous grinding noise. Was that…Neji's teeth?

A muscle twitched in Neji's temple. "Global…appeal?" he repeated, his voice dripping with displeasure.

Tenten bobbed her head. "And I should be getting my custom 'Sasuke-kun loves (please write your name on the dashed line and paste your photo in the dotted oval)' poster in the mail soon. I'm so excited!"

"Custom poster? Dotted oval? EXCITED?" Neji's voice rose with each distasteful word.

Before Tenten could open her mouth to reply (and possibly get herself killed – Neji looked just about ready to pull a Rock-Lee-meets-elixir and smash the entire restaurant to pieces), the Leaf Village's Number One Hyperactive Knucklehead Ninja waltzed through the door, hand in hand with a blushing Hinata.

"They're here," Neji hissed at Tenten. "Act normal!" He whipped out his menu and held it in front of his face.

Tenten rolled her eyes and casually leaned back in her seat. Neji was taking this _way_ too seriously. She glanced out the window of the restaurant, mentally reviewing Shizune's advice.

_I just went on and on and on about Raido's disarming appeal and excellent shinobi skills and, of course, his sexy scar…_

…_And before I knew it, Genma and I had become an item._

"What are you daydreaming about?" Neji snapped from behind his menu.

Tenten sighed. Sometimes, it really sucked having a teammate who had a special bloodline limit that allowed him to see through solid material.

Tenten sighed again, a fake and fluttery one this time. "Oh, I was just thinking about how Sasuke-kun's bangs fall into his eyes when he –"

_Whoosh!_

A single chopstick sliced the air in front of her and whizzed across the restaurant.

Tenten whipped her head to the left. On the opposite side of the room, Naruto was leaning across the table, his lips an inch away from Hinata's.

Tenten swiveled to the right. Neji's arm was poised to throw. His fingers were wrapped around his remaining chopstick as his eyes blazed in indignation.

Tenten twisted to the left again just as the first chopstick hit its target. It pinged off of Naruto's temple, the momentum throwing the blond boy off. Naruto missed Hinata's lips and fell face-first into his bowl of red bean soup.

Neji smirked.

Tenten winced.

Hinata gasped.

Naruto took advantage of his newfound proximity to his food and ate the red bean soup right out of the bowl.

When he had lapped up the last drop (in a record time of 53 seconds), Naruto looked up sheepishly from his bowl, his face streaked with trails of liquid red bean. Hinata immediately picked up her napkin and began dabbing at Naruto's forehead.

Neji's grip on his chopstick tightened threateningly. "They're a bit too close to each other for my liking," he murmured. "I will have to rectify that."

Tenten shook her head. Trust Neji to stand in the way of true love. She snuck a glance at Naruto and Hinata. They were staring into each other's eyes as Hinata ran her napkin along Naruto's smeared cheek. Awww…they were so freaking _cute_ together.

Out of the corner of her eye, Tenten saw Neji's fingers flex on the chopstick. Uh oh. She had to stop him _now_.

"Sasuke-kun's eyes are sooooooo dreamy!" she squealed, leaning across the table to shout in Neji's ear.

He flinched just as the chopstick left his fingertips, throwing his aim off. The chopstick arced through the air and flew over Naruto's head.

"They're so dark and smoldering and mysterious…they could melt a girl just by looking at her," Tenten gushed, attempting to distract Neji from trying again.

Neji struggled to block out Tenten's voice as he scanned the table for another projectile to fire at Naruto. It was bad enough that he had to hear random fangirls on the street prattling on about the Uchiha's eyes…but _Tenten_? It was just too much.

Tenten leaned forward until she was halfway across the table. It was time to deal the final blow. "Don't even get me started on Sasuke-kun's Sharingan… It's got to be the coolest kekkei genkai _ever_! It just sends tingles down my spine when those little black tomoe start spinning…"

Neji, who had been reaching across the table for Tenten's chopsticks, froze. The Sharingan was a cheap derivative of the Byakugan! There was _no way_ that anyone could think it was the "coolest kekkei genkai ever." Neji looked up, ready to deliver a scathing retort.

Whoa.

He and Tenten had met halfway across the table, their faces scant inches apart. They were practically sharing the same breath. Neji's breath (or was it hers?) hitched in his throat.

He had known that Tenten's eyes were brown, of course. But all of a sudden, that simple label wasn't enough to do her eyes justice. He had never noticed that there was a thin film of misty gray over her irises. He had never noticed that her eyes tilted up ever so slightly at the corners. He had never noticed that her dark pupils sparkled when the light hit them just so. He had simply never noticed.

Neji felt himself being sucked in, pulled forward by Tenten's wide, slightly-surprised gaze. The distance between them was closing slowly, slowly… And then…

Someone cleared his throat.

Neji and Tenten flew apart, turning in unison to the amused waiter. The waiter raised an eyebrow but said nothing as he set two steaming plates of food in front of each of them.

Tenten frowned down at the sesame dumplings on her plate. It was her favorite food…but she didn't remember placing an order. Frankly, she couldn't remember much of anything that happened before…before… Her mind refused to go any further.

Neji shrugged, avoiding her eyes. "I ordered for you."

Those four words were the last ones spoken between them for the rest of the evening. They ate their meals in silence. Neji refrained from complaining about Naruto and Hinata. Tenten refrained from cataloguing Sasuke's every virtue.

And both refrained from talking about what had just happened between them.

-x-

It was midnight.

Naruto was enjoying a late-night bowl of ramen, thinking about how soft Hinata's lips were.

Sakura was collapsed on her bed, physically exhausted from training and mentally exhausted from analyzing Sasuke.

Sasuke was staring at his hand, wondering why it felt so tingly and warm.

Tenten was swinging a kunai on her fingertips, ruminating over chopsticks, sesame dumplings, and a certain pair of white eyes.

Neji was trying in vain to meditate, searching fruitlessly for someone to blame his current troubles on.

Lee was smiling into a hand mirror, promising himself that if he did not achieve 700 smiles of Gai-sensei's magnitude, then he would practice flashing 2,000 perky thumbs-up signs.

Each and every one of them was disrupted by a knock on the door. But when they opened their doors, they were all met with one thing: a single slip of paper.

_The Fifth Hokage desires your presence at 11:15 tomorrow morning. (Please be aware that she does not rise before 11:00 on the weekends). This is a MANDATORY meeting._

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> I totally understand if you want to punch, strangle, and/or murder the waiter for his unfortunate timing. Heck, I want to do all of those things…and I was the one who _created_ him! Anyone that stands in the way of true love (and that includes Neji, in regards to NaruHina), deserves to be taken down a peg or two. Anyways, murderous ramblings aside, I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter of "Not Another Sasuke Fangirl." Okay, I know I kind of set the last chapter up for a fight between Konoha's favorite angst-ridden couple...but I hope the romantic development made up for it! I do love how Sakura is so kickass in Shippuden though (just watched the Sasori fight today...WHOO! You go Sakura!) so I'll see what I can do in the future chapters. As always, thanks for reading and reviewing!


	7. Team Bonding

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto (yet).

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><p>A sleep-deprived knucklehead, a bleary-eyed medical-nin, a quick-tempered sannin, two silent, brooding prodigies, and a beaming, overenthusiastic Green Beast… Tenten groaned as she skidded into the Hokage's office at a quarter past eleven (appallingly late according to Neji-time). These were the last people with whom she wanted to start her morning off.<p>

Naruto waved weakly and opened his mouth to greet her, but a huge yawn escaped instead. Sasuke gave her a short nod, his gaze never even flicking toward her. Sakura looked over, her green eyes sharp and analytical, but a friendly smile tugged at her lips nonetheless. Lady Tsunade nodded warmly, the amber flecks in her eyes dancing in the late morning light. Lee flashed her a blinding smile and an energetic thumbs-up, as if he'd been practicing the move all night just to show her.

And Neji…

Their eyes locked. Something intense flickered between them, and neither could find the strength to look away. It seemed as if a spark of electricity was crackling through the air, like a paper bomb at the end of its fuse, about to explode in a burst of white light.

Tsunade noticed, and chalked it up to the hormonal imbalances of young adulthood.

Lee noticed, and chalked it up to an overabundance of youthfulness.

Sakura noticed, and chalked it up to Neji's disapproval of Tenten's newfound fangirl tendencies.

Sasuke noticed, and chalked it up to the fact that the Hyuga was an even bigger blockhead than he'd thought.

Naruto, being Naruto, didn't notice a thing and cheerfully carried on with life.

Tenten walked stiffly to the other side of the room, as far away from Neji as she could possibly get. The spot she finally stopped at just so happened to be right next to Sasuke.

Two pairs of eyes flashed – one white, the other green.

Tsunade leaned back in her seat and laced her fingers together thoughtfully. No wonder Gai had put in the request. Six elite shinobi who had mastered an astonishing array of jutsu…and yet they seemed to have zero people skills when it came to each other. The intensity in the room was so palpable she could probably conduct chakra through it.

Setting her elbows on the desk in front of her, Tsunade eyed the two teams of ninja. "Your senseis have requested a joint mission for the six of you," she told them.

At the mention of "mission," Naruto immediately perked up. Wiping the drool from the corner of his mouth, he met Tsunade's gaze excitedly. "A mission?" he exclaimed, hopping excitedly from foot to foot. "What kind of mission?"

Lee was already punching and kicking the air in exhilaration. "Yes! Please tell us about the mission! It must be a difficult and dangerous one if it requires the skills of all six of us."

Even Neji was intrigued. Missions rarely called for more than a single squad of three. For this mission to require six high-level shinobi…well, it must be a risky one indeed.

"Is it B-rank?" Naruto asked in anticipation. "Or maybe even A-rank?" His blue eyes suddenly turned round. "Is…is it…_S-rank_?" His voice lowered in hushed reverence.

"Actually," Tsunade said, smiling at the six ninja assembled before her. "It's D-rank."

Her cheerful statement was met by a row of blank stares.

"It's less of a _mission_ really…" Tsunade continued, ignoring Naruto, who was due to explode any second now. "…And more of a…hmmm, how should I put it?" Her eyes scanned the ceiling, as if searching for the right words.

"More of a what?" Sakura demanded, impatience creeping into her voice despite herself.

"More of a…team bonding activity," Tsunade finally said.

"Team…bonding," Tenten repeated incredulously. Couldn't they have "bonded" over an A or B-rank mission? What was the point of all six of them wasting their time on a D-rank mission that should have been left to a squad of genin fresh out of the academy?

"You might be wondering why I'm wasting your time with a D-rank mission that should have been left to a squad of genin…" Tsunade said, looking straight at Tenten.

Tenten's head snapped up. Sometimes, the Hokage's powers of perception were terrifying.

"I assure you," Tsunade continued, waving a dismissive hand in the air. "I personally wanted to assign you all to a higher-ranked mission." She paused to glare at the mountain of paperwork threatening to topple off her desk. "I mean, you might as well have been of some _use_. But Gai had to have it his way." A beleaguered sigh escaped her lips. "He insisted that going on a D-rank mission would give you ample opportunity to 'find the bloom of youthfulness in each other's hearts' or some other self-help sales pitch crap like that."

"What exactly does this…team bonding entail?" Neji asked, his question tinged with uneasiness.

"Well…" Tsunade deadpanned, glancing anxiously at Naruto and Lee, "your mission is to…ah…bake a cake."

Sasuke raised a sardonic eyebrow. _Oh, the downfalls of being a Leaf Shinobi…_

"And after you have successfully completed that task, you are to deliver the cake to the head of the Wasabi family in the Land of Tea, which is about a two days journey from here on foot." Tsunade smiled cheekily at the ninja assembled before her. "It should give you plenty of time to get to know each other better."

"Hold on a minute!" Naruto interjected loudly. "You're saying that because of Gai-sensei's stupid ideas, I have to spend four whole days with Bushy Brow and the bastard on a freaking D-rank mission?"

"Naruto!" Lee reprimanded. "Do not malign Gai-sensei in any way! He is the most brilliant shinobi the world has ever seen, and the fact that he has bestowed his splendid ideas upon us is something to be cherished and –"

The Hokage held up a hand, stopping Gai's protégé mid-sentence. "Keep in mind that, though this was Gai's suggestion, Kakashi has agreed as well."

"But…why would Kakashi-sensei agree to this?" Sakura said, asking the question that was on everyone's mind.

Tsunade rolled her eyes. "Easy. The new Icha Icha movie is coming out this afternoon, and he didn't want Naruto to drag him off to training."

There was a murmur of "he _would_" (from Sakura), "old perv" (from Naruto), and bored silence (from Sasuke).

"Okay!" the Hokage said, obviously eager to wrap things up before Naruto went into a full-scale rant. "Sasuke has kindly volunteered his kitchen for the first segment of this mission –"

"What?" Sasuke protested with uncharacteristic emotion. "I did no such –"

"…and I expect all of you to be there at 2 o' clock this afternoon." Tsunade's words ran right over Sasuke's. She looked up into five irritated faces (because Lee, of course, was never ever irritated) and beamed. "You're dismissed!"

-x-

Tenten tapped her foot as Ino rummaged through her closet. "Well…? Have you found anything yet?" she asked the blond girl. "You've been going through my closet for an hour and a half! I need to get to Sasuke's house by 2 o'clock."

Ino shot her a disgruntled look over her shoulder. "My job would have been so much easier if I hadn't had to wade through _this_." She held up a pair of baggy cargo shorts and a wrinkled oversize T-shirt, dangling them from the tips of her fingers like they were diseased. "Didn't you own a single piece of girly clothing before I took you shopping the other day?"

Tenten shrugged, mentally going through her entire closet pre-Ino. "Uh…no?"

Ino let out an aggravated sigh. "And you expect me to put together a cute outfit for you by 2 o' clock," she muttered. "Hopeless."

Tenten bit her lip guiltily, regretting her lack of organization. After Ino had taken her shopping, Tenten had thrown all her new clothes in with her old ones, not bothering to sort them out. "So…you haven't found anything remotely acceptable?"

"Be patient!" the blond ordered, her voice muffled by the avalanche of clothes around her. "I have the perfect outfit in mind. Casual and light-hearted, but with enough oomph to take away the breath of whoever it is you're trying to impress. Now, if I could only find it in this mess…"

Ino suddenly straightened, banging her head on the shelf above her. "Ow!" she shouted, rubbing the back of her head while shooting Tenten an annoyed glare. "Not only are you trying to kill me with your atrocious fashion sense, but also your horrendously-placed furniture."

"Sorry, Ino! You know I –" Tenten began, but stopped when Ino held up a piece of flimsy green silk and something black and disconcertingly short.

"Are you sure about this?" Tenten asked apprehensively.

Ino grinned. "Of course I am! I've got Shikamaru eating out of the palm of my hand, haven't I?"

-x-

"How long have you been sitting on that tree branch?"

Kakashi sighed and looked up from his book. Damn – he was just getting to the good part. The heroine had been about to betray her lover for another man, who was actually a disguised assassin aiming to slit her and her former lover's throats. "Hello, Gai."

"Well?" Gai prodded, staring up at his greatest rival from below the tree branch. "How long has it been?"

Kakashi shrugged, returning his gaze to his book. "Two hours?" he estimated.

A blinding smile immediately stretched across Gai's face. "Ha! It looks like I have bested you yet again, my rival."

"Hm?" Kakashi murmured, not even looking up from the page. "Did you say something?"

Gai clenched his teeth, but refused to let his rival's indifference get to him. "I had been sitting on a tree branch just like this one on the other side of town for two hours and _five minutes_," he announced proudly.

Kakashi turned a lazy eye toward the other jonin. "You must have forgotten that it takes at least ten minutes to get from one side of Konoha to the other, even at your speed. Which means that I have been sitting on this tree branch for at least two hours and ten minutes." He glanced briefly at his watch. "Two hours and eleven minutes, now."

Gai's shoulders slumped in defeat. "Unerring logic, as usual! Just what I'd expect from my strongest rival." He straightened abruptly, flashing a thumbs-up at Kakashi. "Well, nothing to it. I'll just have to do 250 handsprings as my punishment…on top of every roof in Konoha!"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow (not that it was visible with his headband slanting across his forehead). He slipped his book back into his pocket, steeling himself for the inevitable moment Gai would declare another competition between them…

"Kakashi!" Gai shouted, right on cue. "I've got an idea for our next contest!"

"Yes?" Kakashi said wearily.

Gai leapt onto the tree branch and crouched down. He whispered his proposition into Kakashi's ear. When he finished, Gai leaned back and looked expectantly at his rival. "If, in four days time, all does not occur exactly as I've outlined it, then I will –" He paused, gulping, before continuing on bravely. "I will shave my lustrous, gleaming hair into a mohawk."

Kakashi assessed Gai's unfortunate haircut. Even a mohawk would be a step up from _that_… He leaned back against the tree trunk and crossed his hands behind his head. "If you dye it purple on top of that…then you've got yourself a deal."

Gai blanched. Purple mohawks did _not_ go with green jumpsuits. "A consequence like that cannot go without a mirror consequence. If things _do_ turn out as I have predicted, then you have to…to…wear a green jumpsuit to the Cherry Blossom Festival next weekend!"

Now it was Kakashi's turn to whiten. He had an image to uphold, after all. But then again, he didn't really have much faith in what Gai was proposing. Which meant that Gai was almost certainly going be sporting a purple mohawk in four days time.

Behind his mask, a smile touched Kakashi's lips. "It's a deal."

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> So many burning questions! What outfit did Ino pick out for Tenten? Will the six shinobi be able to bake a cake without killing each other in the process? And most importantly, what will we find in four days time – Gai with a purple mohawk…or Kakashi in a green jumpsuit? The plot thickens…muahahaha.

You guys have been so encouraging in your reviews lately. Thank you all for being the most loyal and enthusiastic and generally awesome (read: ego-stroking) reviewers ever!


	8. Culinary Chaos

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto (yet).

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><p>The moment Lee teetered through Sasuke's kitchen door, 27 tubes of colorful frosting balanced in his arms, Neji knew that the mission would be difficult.<p>

The minute Naruto burst in through the window, a bag of sugar in his left hand and a spatula in his right (he didn't seem to realize that spatulas were not required in cake baking), Neji knew that the mission would likely be an absolute disaster.

And the second Tenten strolled in, wearing a sea green tube top and low-slung black shorts, Neji knew – call it gut instinct – that the mission would quite possibly prove fatal.

Sakura, surprisingly, was the last to arrive. She unloaded her grocery bags on the counter, brushing aside Sasuke's silent offers to help. "I'm not _weak_," Neji heard her hiss.

Once all the ingredients had been set out, the six ninja stood in a circle around the kitchen island. They stared at the foreign objects laid out before them, waiting for one of them to take charge.

"So…" Tenten finally spoke, "does anyone have a clue as to what to do?" She tilted her head quizzically at the counter and crossed her arms over her chest.

Neji's eyes were immediately drawn to the filmy green fabric gathered between her breasts. He snapped his gaze away, only to be met with the hem of her close-fitting black shorts. A blush crept up his cheeks, and Neji frantically scanned the faces of the others, hoping that his tiny mental lapse had gone unnoticed.

Naruto was sniffing the canister of cinnamon. Lee was poking curiously at the jar of baking powder. Sakura was staring fixedly at the bag of flour, as if it would spontaneously reassemble itself into a full-fledged cake. But Sasuke…

The Uchiha smirked, his black eyes glinting in wry amusement. He glanced at Tenten, the corner of his lips quirking half a centimeter.

Neji scowled and turned away. Better that than act on his initial urge to throttle the Uchiha and Gentle Fist him into oblivion.

Sakura finally stepped forward, clapping her hands for attention. "All right! First things first." Pulling a bag from the counter, she whipped out six floral aprons with a flourish. "Everyone, take one of these."

Naruto practically sprung onto the pile of aprons, pushing a confused Lee out of the way. He snatched the apron with leafy vines snaking across its front, the only one without a floral pattern. Letting out a sigh of relief, he retreated to the back of the room to watch his comrades duke it out for the least embarrassing apron.

Lee, predictably, chose the apron with giant yellow chrysanthemums on a sickly pale green background. "It is almost as bright as Gai-sensei's smile!" he announced happily.

Sasuke crossed his arms and stubbornly refused to move any closer to the offending pile of domestic frivolity. "I am _not_ wearing an apron," he bit out.

"Oh, come on Sasuke!" Tenten laughed. "Not even this stylish little number with lacy trim and pink carnations?"

Sasuke reeled back from the girly atrocity dangling from Tenten's fingertips. He stumbled straight into a smirking Sakura, who swiftly tied a purple apron around his waist. Sasuke looked down in horror. The thing was decorated with daisies…and they had _smiley faces_.

Neji almost laughed out loud at the sight. But the smile didn't stay on his lips for long. Tenten pounced on him before he could evade her. The lacy apron with pink carnations was tied around him before he could utter a single word of protest.

Naruto grinned, congratulating himself on his own quick reflexes. Smiling daisies and pink carnations…Sasuke and Neji were _never_ going to hear the end of this.

"Okay, everyone! Let's get started," Sakura declared as she and Tenten secured their aprons around their waists.

Neji frowned, picking at the lace trim of his apron. Sasuke shot death glares at the daisy smiley faces swimming in a ghastly sea of purple. Naruto shuffled awkwardly, ready to let someone else take charge for once. And Lee's eyes were shining with unshed tears, most likely thinking about something profound that Gai-sensei had said.

"Tenten," Sakura said, turning to the other girl. "You can measure out the ingredients, since you have the best accuracy and precision out of all of us."

"Neji, I want you to cream together the butter and sugar until the mixture is softened and homogenous throughout. This job takes good eyes and clear judgment, so I figured you would be up for it."

"Lee, why don't you begin dicing the strawberries into small cubes? I'm sure with your speed and directness, you'll be able to get it done in no time."

"Naruto, you can…uh…" Sakura scratched her head, looking helplessly around the kitchen. "You can preheat the oven to 300 F…under my supervision," she added quickly.

"And Sasuke," she said, finally facing the scowling, dark-haired boy. "How about you crack all the eggs and beat them together? You seem to be good at breaking things, after all."

_Especially my heart_, she added silently.

Sasuke glared at her, but took the eggs wordlessly and retreated to a corner of the kitchen.

All of them began applying themselves fully to their assigned tasks, and everything seemed to be going smoothly…for about three minutes.

The trouble started when Lee poked his head around the refrigerator door and announced that there were no more strawberries.

Sasuke took this as a direct insult of his kitchen (and therefore, himself), so he stalked over to the refrigerator, shot his arm past Lee's head, and pulled out a lumpy brown bag.

"I've got something better," he declared, dropping the bag on the counter with an audible _thump_. He smiled smugly, daring the others to contradict him.

Naruto dashed over to the paper bag and peered inside. Tenten, Neji, Sakura, and Lee held their breath, waiting to hear Naruto's verdict.

"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted. "Are you frickin' _crazy_?"

Sasuke just turned his nose up at his teammate. "Hn."

Naruto stuck a hand into the bag and pulled out something round and red. "You don't put _tomatoes_ in cakes…even if you are a Uchiha!"

Four mouths fell open.

"Sasuke," Sakura said slowly, as if speaking to a small child. "Cakes and tomatoes just don't…go together."

Sasuke looked defensive. "Why not? Strawberries are fruit. Tomatoes are fruit. We're just replacing one fruit with another."

Naruto furrowed his brow. "Wait a minute…I thought tomatoes were vegetables."

Sakura planted her hands on her hips. "I've read extensive scientific texts, and they all corroborate the fact that tomatoes are classified as vegetables. Since a tomato is annual as opposed to perennial, and makes up a part of a larger plant, it falls into the vegetable category."

Naruto grinned. "Yeah! What she said."

Neji frowned. "But tomatoes are technically the _fruit_ of the tomato plant. Additionally, its seeds are found on the inside. The tomato is a vessel for the dissemination of seeds…and therefore, it should be categorized as a fruit."

Sasuke raised a haughty eyebrow. "See? Even the Hyuga agrees with me. Tomatoes are fruits. So let's just replace the strawberries and–"

Neji shot Sasuke a scowl. "I agreed with you that tomatoes are fruits…but I never said that you should throw them into the cake batter! Face it, Uchiha. That's a ridiculous idea."

Meanwhile, Tenten was looking thoughtfully at the tomato in Naruto's hand. "If what Neji said about the seeds are true, then things like peas, cucumbers, and eggplants would also be fruits. So from a botanical perspective, tomatoes are vegetables."

Sasuke crossed his arms and glowered. "Why are we even having this argument? Let's just throw the tomatoes in – it's not like we have anything better."

Tenten chewed her lip. "Well…" she hedged, "there _is_ such a thing as carrot cake…"

Sasuke leveled a superior look at Naruto. "See? If carrots can be put into cakes, then so can tomatoes."

"Does that mean you're admitting that tomatoes are vegetables?" Sakura asked, her eyes glinting in triumph.

A conflicted look passed over Sasuke's features. "They…they can be both fruits _and_ vegetables," he grumbled.

"Funny," Sakura drawled, "that's quite different from what you were saying earlier…"

Sasuke gritted his teeth, fishing his mind for a scathing retort. But before he could deliver it, Lee burst into the ring of arguing shinobi, punching one triumphant fist into the air.

"I have a hypothesis!" he proclaimed.

He was met by five expectant stares.

"The tomato," he declared, "is actually…a _flower_!"

"Of youth, no doubt," Tenten muttered under her breath.

"I hate team bonding," Sasuke complained darkly as he made his way to the bag of tomatoes. "I don't care what anyone else says. I'm dumping this entire bag of tomatoes into the cake batter."

"Not so fast!" Naruto shouted, winding his arm back and hurling the tomato in his hand straight at his best friend's head.

But Sasuke, even without his Sharingan activated, saw the tomato coming and dodged it easily.

Sakura, on the other hand, was not so lucky. Her view had been blocked by Sasuke, so she wasn't able to track the tomato's aerial arc.

There was a sickening _splat_ as the tomato exploded over Sakura's freshly washed hair. And then there was a long and horrible silence as red rivulets of tomato juice dripped down into Sakura's face.

"Naruto," she gritted out through clenched teeth. "I. Am. Going. To. ANNIHILATE YOU!"

A terrified expression gripped Naruto's features as Sakura flew at him, tomato innards flying from her hair and blue chakra flaring around her fist.

"It was all Sasuke's fault!" Naruto yelled in a burst of self-preservation. "He was the one who got the tomatoes out in the first place, remember?"

"I'll kill him after I'm done with you," Sakura growled, the chakra around her hand intensifying.

"Please, my beloved Sakura!" Lee shouted, stupidly stepping between the two. "Do not let your youth overpower you and push you to make rash decisions!"

"Stay out of this, Lee," Sakura grunted, shoving him aside and sending him halfway across the room. But before her fist could connect with Naruto's jaw, the knucklehead managed to duck. Sakura's punch hit the cabinet behind him, shattering the wood instantly on impact.

Naruto sighed in relief and slid across the room to the tomato bag. His prankster eyes flashed mischievously as he pulled out a trio of tomatoes. "TOMATO FIGHT!" he hollered, pelting them at his teammates.

Quite predictably, all hell broke loose.

Sakura and Naruto began bombarding each other with tomatoes, while Lee got caught in the crossfire. Sasuke activated his Sharingan and danced around the shower of fruits/vegetables. Tenten crouched into a defensive stance and pierced her kunai into incoming tomatoes.

Neji sighed and turned back to his butter and sugar mixture, trying to block out the chaos around him. He was able to do so quite admirably until a wayward tomato flew right through his Byakugan's blind spot. Neji whirled around, but it was too late.

_Splat!_

Five surprised heads whipped toward him to witness Hyuga Neji in all his tomato-encased glory. A muscle twitched in his jaw as the flattened tomato slid down from his temple, leaving a trail of red juice before splattering onto the floor.

"Neji just got BEANED!" Naruto guffawed into the sudden silence.

Neji's eyes narrowed threateningly. Before his mind could register what he was doing, he was sprinting full tilt toward Naruto, his carefully prepared bowl of frothy sugared butter in his hand.

Naruto's eyes widened as Neji's bowl met his face, whipped-cream-pie-style.

"Sorry, Naruto," Neji said as he slid back. "But that was completely necessary."

"Didn't think you had that in you, Neji," Naruto replied, wiping a streak of butter from his nose. "But can you take _this_?" he bellowed, whipping out a tomato from behind his back.

Neji smirked, drawing out his own tomato. "I can if you can."

They threw their tomatoes at the same time. The two tomatoes met halfway across the kitchen and canceled each other out.

Unfortunately, they cancelled each other out on Tenten.

Naruto's tomato caught her in the small of her back. Neji's tomato hit her full in the face. The two boys gulped as Tenten swiped a hand across her eyes.

If looks could kill…Naruto and Neji would have been hanging out with the Third Hokage in the afterlife by now.

With deadly calm, Tenten peeled the tomatoes from her face and back, and tossed them into the air. Before the boys could react, she sent two kunai into each of the tomatoes, propelling them toward their targets.

_Splat! Splat!_ The tomatoes exploded against Sasuke's brand new wallpaper as Naruto and Neji ducked in the nick of time.

But Tenten didn't seem perturbed. She just smiled a slow and scary smile as she tossed four more tomatoes into the air. "Don't get comfortable yet, boys. I'm just getting started!"

As Naruto ran for cover and Neji prepared to close off Tenten's chakra points if the need arose, Sasuke leaned against his tomato-splattered refrigerator and sighed. Of course, _he_ wouldn't get involved in all this silly nonsense. _He_ was above all that. _He_ was far too mature and refined. _He_ –

_Splat!_

He had just been hit by a tomato.

Sasuke looked up incredulously, only to see Sakura standing before him, a smug grin on her face and another tomato in her hand.

"Does little _Sasuke-kun_ need protecting?" she taunted, lobbing the tomato at his head.

Sasuke smirked and slid downward. Really, she was making this far too easy –

_Splat! Splat! Splat! _Three tomatoes hit his chest in quick succession. He had been so focused on dodging the first one that he hadn't noticed the three coming right at him.

From his rather humiliating position on the kitchen floor, Sasuke glowered at Sakura with the force of a thousand poison darts. This wasn't silly nonsense anymore.

This was _war_.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>Hehehehe – that was so much fun to write! I basically drafted this entire scene in my head while running with my cross country team the other day. Eight pages…eight miles…one page per mile! I just took the fact that Sasuke likes tomatoes and ran with it (no pun intended). In case anyone was curious, tomatoes are officially fruit. So kudos to our two prodigies for getting it correct. I hope I'm getting better at this whole humor thing. If I made you crack a smile or chuckle quietly or even laugh out loud, please consider shooting me a review! And if not…shoot me a review anyway, telling me how utterly horrible at humor I am. :)


	9. Conversations

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto (yet).

* * *

><p>Lee was huddled in the corner of Sasuke's kitchen, shiny tears streaming down his cheeks. How could his beloved Gai-sensei's team bonding activity have turned out so…<em>wrong?<em>

Naruto was flinging tomatoes at everything in sight, animate and inanimate, his movements fueled by his seemingly endless stamina. Tenten was hurling kunai-enhanced tomatoes (or were they tomato-enhanced kunai?) at anyone that happened to annoy her. Neji, meanwhile, had gone into his Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms to deflect Tenten's fatal tomatoes. And Sasuke and Sakura were duking it out on the opposite side of the room, firing off tomatoes with their chakra like the world depended on it.

Lee scooted further into the corner, clutching his knees to his chest. All he wanted to do was keep the _peace_. So when a bottle fell on his head from the shelf above him, Lee thought nothing of taking a tiny sip to revitalize his flagging spirits. It was probably just water, anyways.

Hmmm. Strange. It didn't _taste_ like water. Lee's eyes drooped as he surveyed the scene around him. Why did everyone look so…blurry? And why did he suddenly feel the need to…smash something?

The last thing Lee heard before his mind spiraled into oblivion was Tenten shouting, "No, Lee! That's COOKING WINE!"

All action halted when Neji jumped onto the countertop, holding his hands in the universal time-out sign. "Everyone! Stop what you are doing instantly. Lee is in a very dangerous state of mind right now. We have to –"

"Come on, Bushy Brow! Snap out of it!" Naruto yelled, launching his last tomato at Lee.

"STOP!" Neji and Tenten shouted simultaneously, rushing into the path of the arcing tomato. But all they ended up doing was crash into each other while the tomato completed its trajectory…and hit Lee squarely between the eyebrows.

Lee rose unsteadily to his feet, swaying slightly as he glanced around in confusion. "HEY!" he bellowed at double his usual volume. "WHAT ARE YOU ALL LOOKING AT, HUH? I'M GONNA…I'M GONNA…TAKE YOU DOWN!"

Neji and Tenten scrambled to their feet, blushing as they pushed off of each other. Tenten pulled out a fistful of shuriken, and Neji went into his Gentle Fist stance. "Okay," he addressed the rest of the group, "We're going to have to restrain Lee without hurting him. Get ready. He's about to –"

An awful roar ripped from Lee's throat as he hurtled forward, going straight for a perplexed Sasuke. The tomoe of the Sharingan flashed and spun as Sasuke evaded Lee's punches. But the Loopy Fist proved to be too much for even the Uchiha.

Sasuke gritted his teeth as he was flung backwards. "Why can't we just kill him?" he griped, only half joking. "Hyuga, hurry it up, will you? Restrain him before he destroys my entire kitchen."

Lee was hopping from cabinet to cabinet like a monkey on drugs. With each cabinet he landed on, he punched his fist through the wood, shattering the bowls and plates inside.

Neji hesitated. "With so much chakra coursing through his body, I'm concerned that closing a chakra point will lead to severe injury."

"And even though I have 100% accuracy with my weapons," Tenten added, frowning as Lee smashed his foot through the ceiling, "his movements are too erratic for me to get a good shot and pin him to the wall without hurting him."

"Well, if you guys aren't going to do anything, then I will!" Naruto shouted, the Rasengan already beginning to form in the palm of his hand.

"Naruto, you idiot!" Sakura interjected. "Are you trying to _kill_ him?"

But Naruto was already running full speed at Lee, the blue ball of chakra growing brighter with each step.

Sakura sighed and bemoaned her teammate's lack of fully functioning brain cells. Then, with one swift and powerful punch, she turned Sasuke's kitchen floor into chaotic disarray of fragmented tiles.

Silence ensued as a dazed Lee struggled to his feet amidst the rubble. "Wha – what just happened? Where am I?" he asked the other five ninja.

Sasuke ran a weary hand through his hair, glancing at the demolished cabinets, the cracked ceiling, the tomato-splattered wallpaper, and the ravaged floor. "I am _not_ paying for the renovations."

-x-

By the time the six shinobi had finished baking a full-fledged cake without running into any mishaps, it was already sundown. They all trudged out of Sakura's house (where there had been an ample supply of strawberries and no trace of tomatoes), deciding that they would set out for the Land of Tea first thing the next morning.

But for now…

Tenten stumbled out of Sakura's front door, stifling a yawn with the palm of her hand. Glancing back into the dark hallway, she saw that Sasuke was still lingering around for some reason. Tenten raised an eyebrow in silent inquiry.

Sasuke simply stared back at her, the emotion wiped clear from his face.

Her other eyebrow joined the first as Tenten glanced meaningfully at the kitchen, where the clatter of dishes could be heard as Sakura scrubbed them. Her simple gesture seemed to convey a silent message: _You're staying because of Sakura? _

At the implication, Sasuke's lips immediately curled into a scowl. _In her dreams._

Tenten grinned impishly. _That explains why you're hanging out in her front hall, most likely counting the seconds until I leave._

The corners of Sasuke's mouth tightened. _It's none of your business._

Tenten shrugged. _Whatever. All you silent, brooding genius-types are so weird._ She raised one hand in a farewell wave. _See ya._

Sasuke nodded brusquely as Tenten slipped out the door.

Unbeknownst to both of them, Neji was leaning against the cherry tree in Sakura's front yard, watching the entire exchange through narrowed eyes. There was something about the way that Sasuke and Tenten were able to communicate with the minutest movements that made his entire body tense up.

He suddenly felt like an outsider, like he didn't belong in this picture-perfect scene. Detaching quietly from the tree, he slipped away into the night.

-x-

Sakura jumped in surprise when Sasuke strolled back into her kitchen. She glanced at him from the corner of her eye as she rubbed at a particularly stubborn stain on her measuring cup. "I thought you left with the others."

He didn't answer, just picked up a bowl and started drying it. They worked in silence for a few minutes, Sakura doing the washing, Sasuke taking over the rinsing and drying.

"Hey, Sasuke?" Sakura finally asked into the comfortable quiet that had settled over the room.

The plate he'd been drying clinked softly as he set it in her cupboard. His motions didn't even pause as he picked up the next plate in the stack. Sakura's only acknowledgement that he had even heard her was a slight tilt of the head. It was almost imperceptible to the human eye, but she had been his teammate for too long for his movement to go unnoticed.

"I'm sorry about your kitchen," she said as she swirled her dishcloth through the soapy water. "When this mission is over, we'll all chip in to pay for the repairs."

Sasuke grunted, his gaze flickering to her face for a fleeting moment. "That's not necessary. The renovations won't even put a kink in my finances."

Sakura paled. "Did you even _see_ your kitchen? The cost could go up to –"

But Sasuke interrupted her with an unperturbed shrug. "I don't think you understand how much money I have," he said simply.

Sakura furrowed her brow before turning back to the dishes. He _was_ the sole heir to the entire Uchiha fortune, which – by all accounts – was substantial enough to purchase a small country.

They washed and rinsed and dried in silence for a few more minutes before Sakura let out a sudden giggle.

Sasuke shot her a slightly appalled look. He thought she had grown out of that giggling fangirl phase that had plagued their genin years. "What?" he snapped, more harshly than he'd intended.

But if Sakura was affected by his sharp tone, she didn't show it. She only looked at him with gleaming green eyes and said, "I think you're reeling more from your wounded pride than from the considerable damage your kitchen took."

Sasuke unconsciously swiped his towel a bit more viciously across the surface of the cutting board he was drying. Wounded pride? _Him_? "What makes you say that?" he gritted out.

"Oh, come on, Sasuke. You can drop the 'I'm too cool for this' act," Sakura teased, pushing his shoulder playfully.

Sasuke flinched away from her touch, but he was powerless to stop the tingles from running down his arm. _Damn it. What was happening to him?_

"Don't think I forgot the stunned look on your face when I splattered those three tomatoes all over your chest." Sakura grinned triumphantly. "Admit it, Sasuke. You were traumatized that your former fangirl knocked the wind right out of your sails."

Sasuke's eyes flashed. He wasn't happy with the knowledge that not one, but _two_ of his teammates now had the capacity to beat him. But all he said was, "You shouldn't refer to yourself that way."

Sakura tilted her head in confusion. "What, as a 'former fangirl'?"

He gave her a short nod in reply.

An odd smile touched Sakura's lips. "Why not? It's true, isn't it?" She dragged her toe across the floor and glanced back down at the dishcloth in her hand. "I mean, you don't like me that way. And I…I don't like you that way, either." The water from the faucet dripped down into the bowl she was holding as Sakura stared down into the glimmering soapsuds. "At least, not anymore."

_Drip, drip, drip_. Sasuke listened to the water trickle down into the sink as he tried to wrap his mind around her words. So it was true. She was well and truly over her annoying fangirl phase. He should be dancing with joy. Jumping with glee. Or at least cracking a smile. But he was Uchiha Sasuke, so he did none of those things. But there was still that niggling feeling deep inside his chest, the off-putting knowledge that he was just a tiny bit…irritated.

Sakura looked warily at Sasuke, who was staring intensely at the half-dry mixing bowl in his hand. His expression was unreadable.

"Sasuke?" she asked hesitantly. "Are you…I mean, this is what you wanted, right? What you've wanted all along."

Sasuke finally looked up as he returned to motion, his hand methodically running the towel across the rim of the bowl. His eyes locked with Sakura's, and a heartbeat passed before he spoke, the intensity and conviction of his voice surprising them both.

"Of course it is. I've never wanted it any other way."

The next fifteen minutes were steeped in tense silence, the sound of the dripping faucet and the clinking plates reverberating like gongs through the cramped kitchen.

-x-

Gai paused in his midnight training to glance worriedly at the night sky. Thin gray clouds snaked across the heavens, choking and smothering the moon's feeble light.

He was already losing the bet to Kakashi. He could feel it in his bones.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>This story must seem so bipolar, seesawing from humor to drama and back again. Well, you know what they say: like story, like writer. :D Although…I'm generally an annoyingly cheerful and optimistic person, so I don't know where all this angst came from. Lol, it must be the influence of my chibi Sasuke keychain.

So…I am in need of opinions! Do you guys feel like this story is dragging on too long and would like me to end it in the next couple of chapters? Or are you cool with how it's developing and would like me to draw it out a little longer? I know I've been updating fairly frequently…but when school starts up again, the chapters might be coming in at a slower rate with cross country practice, four AP classes, and college applications nipping at my heels. But one thing is for sure: I promise you guys – I will _definitely_ finish this story, even if I'm eighty and toothless (heaven forbid it take that long). Just let me know your opinion! Thanks a bunch. :D


	10. Green with Envy

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto (yet).

* * *

><p>The rosy blush of dawn hung in the sky as the six shinobi set off for the Land of Tea (<em>half an hour later than planned<em>, Neji mused in exasperation). The carved faces of the Hokages and the quaint tiled roofs of Konoha faded into the distance as they leapt through the trees, their feet barely disturbing the leaves on the branches.

Tenten was bringing up the rear, annoyed with herself for not having the speed or the stamina to keep up with the rest of the group. Well, she _did_ have a fifteen-pound scroll strapped to her back. As she stared at the back of Neji's head, watching the wind stream through his long hair, a flash of black appeared at her left.

"I'm flabbergasted. The mighty Uchiha Sasuke actually deigns to fall back with a slowpoke like me?" Tenten quipped as Sasuke fell into step with her.

Sasuke's expression didn't change an iota. But up ahead, Tenten noticed Neji's shoulders stiffening, just a little, as his 360-degree vision swept over her and Sasuke.

The two traveled in silence for a while before Sasuke turned toward her, the weak morning light reflecting off his dark eyes. "How is your plan going?"

"Well…" Tenten said slowly, drawing out the word. "So far, he's criticized my choice of clothing, expressed his extreme disappointment in my behavior, lost his temper more times than I've ever seen in my life, and smashed a tomato into my face…although that last one was wholly unintentional." She skated her gaze to Sasuke and raised her eyebrows. "How do you _think_ it's going?"

Sasuke shrugged, ignoring the sarcasm injected into her words. "It seems like it's working pretty well to me."

Tenten stared at him as if he'd suddenly sprouted a second head. "Did you not hear what I just said? _He smashed a tomato into my face_."

"Look at it this way." Sasuke sighed at having to exceed his daily word quota. "There are two phases in your plan. The first is to make Neji jealous. The second is to make him fall in love with you." He ran a hand absently through his hair. "By the look of things, you're still in the first phase."

Tenten mulled over this new piece of information. "I guess you have a point," she admitted. "But we used to be such easy and comfortable friends. Why is he acting like he hates me all of a sudden?"

"If you were to put emotions on a scale," Sasuke said slowly, choosing his words very carefully, "hate would fall somewhere between love and indifference."

Tenten looked at him curiously. "Is that why you're so worked up over Sakura? Because she's basically indifferent to you nowadays?"

Sasuke glanced at her sharply. "I am _not_ worked up over Sakura," he ground out.

A smile flitted over Tenten's lips at his obvious discomfort. "Denial is the first stage of acceptance," she teased in a singsong voice.

"Yeah?" He shot back. "Well, it's also the first stage of grief."

Tenten rolled her eyes. "You're so pessimistic."

"No," Sasuke returned, "I'm _realistic_."

She threw her hands up in defeat. "Okay, okay, Mr. Realistic. So tell me…how do I get from Phase One to Phase Two?"

Sasuke cocked an eyebrow at her. "Do I look like I know?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot. You're drowning in a sea of your own romantic woes."

A fierce scowl crossed his face. "I need more silent friends," he muttered.

Tenten swept her hand in the Hyuga's general direction. "Then Neji's your man."

"Too bad he probably wants to rip my guts out thanks to your little scheme," Sasuke retorted.

Tenten grinned with a little too much glee. "You really think so?" she asked hopefully.

Sasuke groaned. Tenten's plan better proceed to Phase Two soon. He would rather his guts stay intact.

-x-

Neji had an inexplicable urge to rip Sasuke's guts out.

Every time Tenten nodded or smiled or laughed at something the Uchiha said, the blood rushed through Neji's ears, followed by the steady beat of a single word: _kill, kill, kill_.

"Geez Neji, what's with you?" Naruto said as they flew through the trees. "You're so tense, like your face is about to crack open or something."

Slowly, like a mechanical puppet, Neji's head swiveled toward Naruto. His white eyes raged with murderous intent and his mouth tightened into a dangerously thin line.

Naruto began to fear for his life.

He was fairly certain that Neji would not outright murder the person who had freed the proverbial bird from his cage. He also had faith in the famous Hyuga composure and collectivity. But Naruto had excellent self-preservation instincts, so he wisely kept his mouth shut. He was damn well not going to die on a _D-rank_ mission.

"Lee's already miles ahead of us," Naruto blabbered quickly. "Can't let his ego get to him, you know. Ibettercatchup…youstayrightwhereyouare…seeya!"

Neji took a deep and calming breath as he watched Naruto disappear in an orange blur.

"Don't mind Naruto. You know how he is," a voice piped up to his left.

Neji turned to see Sakura fall into step beside him. She wasn't even looking at him as the words left her mouth. Instead, her head was turned to the back, where Sasuke and Tenten were still in deep conversation.

"I know," Neji replied, despite her inattention. "I have Lee on my team, after all."

At his words, Sakura's head whipped back toward him and a smile crinkled across her face. "Then you must understand completely. Naruto and Lee…they're lovable…but sometimes they're…" she trailed off.

"…Not particularly lovable?" Neji offered.

Sakura's soft laugh tinkled through the air. "Exactly!"

Neji could feel two curious gazes pinned to their backs. He could also feel Sakura's concentration slipping away again. Her pupils slid ever so slightly to the right as she twisted to look over her shoulder. But before she could twist back all the way, a blaze of quiet strength flashed in her eyes, and she abruptly snapped her head forward again.

Neji scanned her resolutely focused gaze for a moment before speaking. "You're different from what you used to be," he told her.

The blaze of strength in her eyes guttered out as Sakura's eyes flickered back over her shoulder. "Not as different as I would have liked," she murmured, a resigned sigh escaping her lips. "It seems that nothing has changed. Nothing at all."

Despite himself, Neji's gaze followed Sakura's. He watched the pair behind him, who appeared to be oblivious to their stares. "On the contrary," he said more to himself than to Sakura, "it seems that _everything_ has changed."

There had been a time not too long ago when he'd felt that he and Tenten inhabited a world of their own. When Lee and Gai-sensei's shouts had faded away into the distance, when he could hear the lilting notes of birdsong filtering through the leaves, when the clearing in the forest was empty save for Tenten and him…that was when a feeling of happiness – pure and true – would permeate through Neji's entire body. When he sparred with Tenten, as they danced around each other's attacks that they knew like the backs of their own hands, Neji had thought, _This is the way it's supposed to be. The way it will always be. Nothing will change, ever._

But then he had gone off on that solo mission, and when he returned…everything had changed. Everything. The world had simply flipped on its axis, turning all that he had known and trusted in upside-down.

Or perhaps…everything had been changing all along, right under his nose.

And he had been blind until now.

-x-

Meanwhile, Tenten and Sasuke were attempting to appear oblivious to the stares of their two teammates.

"Why are they staring at us?" Tenten asked under her breath.

Sasuke shrugged a single shoulder. "More importantly, what could they have been talking about?"

Tenten chewed her lower lip in contemplation. "I wonder…" she murmured. As far as she knew, the only female friend Neji had was _her_. He had never shown girls like Ino or Sakura anything other than respect for their abilities or solidarity for their shared shinobi path. Nothing more, nothing less. So why was he acting buddy-buddy with Sakura all of a sudden?

"What I really want to know," Sasuke continued, supplying an uncharacteristic number of words, "is what Hyuga said to make Sakura laugh so hard. I mean, he's _Hyuga_. He can't be any good at making jokes."

This time it was Tenten's turn to shrug. "Neji occasionally does possess a sense of humor. The thing is, he says a lot of funny things without ever intending to be funny." A smile curved her lips as she looked over at Sasuke. "Kind of like you, actually."

"But I've never made Sakura laugh like that," Sasuke grunted. His next words were spoken so quietly, Tenten could barely catch them. "I've only made her cry."

Uncomfortable with the atypical amount of emotion the Uchiha was showing, Tenten tried to diffuse the situation with a joke. "Ooooh, Sasuke," she teased lightly, "You're not jealous now, are you?"

He scoffed. "Hardly." His features returned to their usual impassive state, and his eyes went blank and dull. But Tenten could see that his gaze was still fixed on Sakura and Neji.

"Besides," Sasuke said abruptly. "You shouldn't be the one talking."

Tenten's smile wavered as she watched Neji and Sakura turn back to each other and resume their conversation. Sharp and needling prickles of envy shot through her chest. Was she really that transparent to Sasuke?

She had just opened her mouth to reply when a pair of shuriken sliced through the air, an inch away from the tip of her nose. "What the…?"

Eight rogue ninja exploded from the foliage, each armed to their eyeballs with every sharp and dangerous weapon imaginable.

A small, barely perceptible smile found its way to Tenten's lips. She was the indisputable weapons mistress. The enemy didn't stand a chance.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Yay for cliffhangers! This chapter is for all of you who asked for more Sasuke and Tenten interaction with a heavy dose of Neji jealousy. So I decided to go all out and make everyone in our charming love-quadrangle go green with envy. :D

Oh, and apologies to the readers who requested more NejiTen. The original cause for the NejiTen shortage was actually a request for more SasuSaku. Lol, I guess it's impossible to satisfy everyone. But no worries! I just drafted a fluffy NejiTen scene that will be showing up about two chapters down the line. As always, thanks for reading and reviewing!


	11. Unwelcome Intervention

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto (yet).

* * *

><p>It was four against eight.<p>

Naruto and Lee were too far ahead to be of any help. That left Sakura, Neji, Sasuke, and Tenten to fight off enemies double their size and number. Technically, the odds were against them.

Sakura clenched her fists, a smile playing across her lips. Now that she wasn't a helpless little genin any longer, she had learned to relish a good fight. She loved that she was able to fend for herself. But mostly, she loved _proving_ that she was able to fend for herself.

One of the rogue ninjas leapt onto the branch she and Neji were standing on and hurtled toward them at full speed. But just as Sakura pulled back her arm to crack his sorry jaw halfway across Fire Country, Neji jumped in front of her. Sakura lowered her arm just in time to avoid knocking Neji unconscious as he swiftly closed off all the chakra points in the rogue ninja's arms.

With an annoyed huff, Sakura stepped out from behind Neji and assumed a fighting stance. "The next one is mine," she announced as a masked man came at them, a pair of axes swinging in his hands.

But once again, Neji stepped forward, effectively blocking her view. "No, Sakura. Your close-range combat style is far too risky against these weapon wielders."

Sakura frowned, but lowered her fists as Neji swept the enemy's feet out from under him and delivered a chakra-infused blow to his chest.

"You're talking to _me_ about close-range combat?" she muttered.

Meanwhile, Tenten crouched into an offensive stance as a wild-eyed enemy leapt from the canopy of the forest. Flicking her wrist so rapidly the movement was barely visible, Tenten flung three sets of expertly aimed shuriken in quick succession. The ninja would most likely be able to dodge the first two sets – that was to be expected – but the third set… Tenten grinned. He would be cut to ribbons before he could say, "Uh oh."

As predicted, the assailant twisted his body just in time to avoid the initial barrage of shuriken. But his evasion had left his body open to attack, and Tenten watched in satisfaction as the enemy ninja's eyes widened in alarm. _I've got him right where I want him_…

Sizzle. Crackle. Boom!

_…Or not_.

Tenten gaped as every one of her precisely aimed shuriken went up in flames. Sasuke had unleashed a flurry of fireballs, and they had burned through her weaponry without so much as a preamble. Worst of all, the bright flames had given the rogue ninja just enough time to back-flip through the air and away from the attack.

Planting her hands on her hips, Tenten whirled on her so-called ally. "Hey!" she snapped, "What was that for?"

But all she got from the Uchiha was an expressionless shrug as he unsheathed his sword and pursued the enemy ninja. "Your shuriken were moving too slowly," he said tonelessly, turning to look at her over his shoulder.

Tenten glared at him.

"And besides," Sasuke continued, not even pausing for breath, "Every time you throw a weapon, you are leaving yourself vulnerable to attack." He immobilized the ninja with a single swipe of his sword to the fleshy part just behind the knees. "Leave the fighting to me."

Gritting her teeth, Tenten resisted the urge to cross her arms and pout. About fifty meters in front of her, Sakura was struggling to do the same.

Less than a minute later, the Leaf shinobi suffered a stroke of misfortune (or luck, in the case of the silently fuming kunoichis). A pair of assaulters began launching long-range attacks, forcing Sasuke and Neji to leave the girls to their own devices. As the clan prodigies drew further away, their attention directed completely toward the enemy ninjas, smiles of relief spread across Sakura and Tenten's faces. Their smiles widened as two more attackers appeared, armed with glinting katanas.

Sakura focused chakra to her fist. _Finally. It's my turn._

Across from her, Tenten unrolled the jumbo scroll strapped to her back. _At last. This is my chance!_ As the rogue ninja drew closer, she unleashed a flurry of weapons, knowing that they'd find their target.

Except…they didn't.

Tenten frowned as a flare of blue chakra surrounded her, throwing her weapons off their course. There was only one person within a 50-mile radius who could manipulate chakra into such an intense, whirling defense.

"Neji," she gritted out through tightly clenched teeth. "I was doing perfectly well, thank you very much, before you intruded with your stupid kaiten."

Neji skated his gaze toward Tenten, momentarily taken aback that she'd insulted the Hyuga clan's ultimate defense. "You left yourself open to attack," he offered by means of explanation, parroting Sasuke's earlier words. His eyes barely left her face as he air-palmed the incoming rogue ninja, blasting the enemy cleanly through seven trees.

Tenten didn't even bat an eyelash. "I'm sick of being protected every damn second of every damn mission," she hissed, her normally strict profanity filter giving way to pure rage. "You think I don't notice the way you always keep me within your Byakugan's radius, ready to intervene whenever my purported weakness or vulnerability or incompetence rears its ugly head. But I do notice." Tenten jabbed a finger unceremoniously into Neji's chest. "Because I'm not nearly as weak or vulnerable or incompetent as you seem to think I am."

Neji flushed angrily. "I don't protect you because I think you're _incompetent_. I protect you because…because…I…" For the first time in his life, the Hyuga prodigy was flustered into speechlessness.

"Because what? Spit it out, Neji," Tenten snapped, her usual calm judgment clouded by righteous indignation.

But Neji's features had already reverted back to their customary cool indifference. "You don't have it half as bad as Sakura," he felt obligated to point out.

At once, the two arguing ninja turned toward the pink-haired kunoichi. Tenten bit her lip in pity. As much as she hated to admit it, there was a grain of truth to Neji's words…

Sakura stood off to the side, a thunderous expression painted across her delicate features, as Sasuke brought down enemy after enemy with his steel-bladed kusanagi. The intense flare of chakra ebbed around Sakura's fists as she crossed her arms in defiance. Tenten shook her head sadly, knowing exactly how the other kunoichi felt.

It finally seemed like the short-tempered medical ninja had had enough. As the last rogue ninja burst from the leaf canopy, Sakura ducked under Sasuke's arm and dashed toward the assailant at full speed, the blue energy around her hands growing brighter with each determined step.

Then, two things happened simultaneously. First, a look of annoyance twisted Sasuke's features. And second, the razor-sharp edge of the rogue ninja's katana glinted coldly in the sunlight as he slashed it downward.

Tenten gasped, and even Neji sucked in a surprised breath as a spurt of crimson blood splattered into the tension-fraught air.

Sasuke glanced down at the shallow flesh wound on his chest, ignoring the wide-eyed Sakura standing just behind him. Then, transferring his gaze to the stunned rogue ninja before him, Sasuke raised a single arrogant brow. "That was annoying."

And with that, Sasuke gripped the ninja's quavering katana and drove its blunt hilt into the trembling enemy's collarbone. A sickening crack sounded through the air as the rogue ninja stumbled and fell to the forest floor, unconscious before he had even lost his footing.

Flinging the katana to the side, Sasuke cast an aggravated glance over his shoulder. "You'll always need protecting, won't you?" he said, smirking at Sakura.

Neji sighed as he watched Sakura's initial surprise quickly rearrange itself into anger of Tsunade-proportions. "The Uchiha really is an idiot sometimes," he muttered to Tenten.

But Tenten only shot him a look of exasperation. "He's not the only one," she retorted pointedly.

Before Neji could counter, Tenten leapt to the next tree branch and continued onward, leaving him in the dust.

"Come on, Sakura!" Tenten shouted, not bothering to glance back as she sped through the trees. "Let's leave the idiots to themselves."

-x-

In mute silence, Sasuke and Neji watched the two kunoichi disappear into the distance.

"What's up with _them_?" Neji finally asked, the first words he had voluntarily spoken to the Uchiha since the start of their mission.

Sasuke only grunted and glanced down at the blood seeping through the front of his shirt. "I'm bleeding to death here, and all they do is huff and walk away," he muttered irritably.

Neji rolled his eyes. "Take it like a man, Uchiha."

Sasuke scowled. "Says the guy who probably lathers and rinses twice to get his hair all silky and smooth."

A sound perilously close to a growl escaped Neji's lips. "That's it, Uchiha. I'm going to –"

Before he could finish his threat, a familiar green-clad figure erupted from the trees.

"I am prepared to use my youthful prowess to vanquish the enemies!" Lee yelled, crouching into a dorky, Gai-sensei-inspired fighting pose.

An orange-clothed form landed to the right of Lee, the Rasengan already forming in his palm. "Yeah! When I get my hands on them, I'm gonna CRUSH them into teeny tiny –" Naruto paused, scanning the fallen weapons in dismay. "Wait a second…we…we missed the fight?"

Sasuke rubbed his temple wearily and gave a short nod.

"Man, why do the cold-hearted, unemotional losers get all the fun?" Naruto groused, oblivious to the severe death glares trained on him. A low rumble split the air, and Naruto rubbed a hand across his stomach. "I could really use a bowl of ramen right about now… Hey! Where are you guys going?"

He and Lee watched in stupefaction as the aforementioned cold-hearted, unemotional losers disappeared into the forest.

"Let's hurry it up," Neji said curtly to Sasuke as they sped through the trees. "There is no way I am spending four entire days with Naruto and Lee."

Sasuke gave a brusque nod. "For once, we are in complete agreement."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>Hi everyone! Thank you all for reading (and hopefully enjoying!) my story. And a special shout-out to those who have taken the time to write me such kind/sweet/thoughtful reviews. You guys rock my fuzzy turquoise socks!

First day of school tomorrow… Senior year at last. :) Good luck to all of you getting into the back-to-school funk. In the meantime, look forward to a good deal of NejiTen and SasuSaku in the coming chapters! *grin*


	12. Dreaming About You

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto (yet).

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><p>All paths eventually converge at one point. It is a law of life – static and inevitable.<p>

As a blanket of stars unfurled across the ink black sky, the six Konoha ninja found themselves converging in a forest clearing, setting up camp for the night.

Neji's jaw tensed as he calculated distances in his head. (It was a little known quirk of his, often overshadowed by his penchant for counting birds).

Eleven feet. The distance between his and Tenten's bedrolls.

Nine feet. The distance between Tenten and Lee's bedrolls.

Seven feet. The distance between Tenten and Sakura's bedrolls.

Five feet. The distance between Tenten and Naruto's bedrolls.

Three feet. The distance between Tenten and Sasuke's bedrolls.

Perilously close. The distance between his mind and the edge of insanity.

Neji strode to a tree near the perimeter of the clearing. He sat down, back to bark, and folded his legs beneath him. "I'll take the first watch," he said, finding comfort in the mundane.

His statement was met by a chorus of snores. Neji shifted his gaze to the waning crescent moon. It was so thin – just a coconut shaving hanging amid a sea of stars. For some unfathomable reason, a twinge of sadness threaded though his heart.

Neji dragged his eyes from the sky and refocused on a small, slumbering figure eleven feet away. In sleep, the lines and angles that composed Tenten's features were softened. Her mouth, usually set in mulish determination, had relaxed into a faint flicker of a smile. A few recalcitrant locks of hair had escaped from her buns, spilling like rich chocolate onto her bedroll.

Shifting position, Neji looked away. Over the years, Team Gai had fallen into a pattern: Neji would volunteer to take the first watch. When his shift was over, he would shake Tenten awake, and she would take the second watch because she liked the idea of having two sleeping shifts. After Tenten was Lee and Gai, since neither could bear to watch the sunrise without the other at his side.

Neji was a strict believer in the kind of teamwork in which each member carried his or her own weight. In his mind, team dynamics had no room for individual weakness or constant coddling. But sometimes, when he watched Tenten's face soften in slumber, he couldn't bear to wake her up. There was just something about the way her lashes fanned delicately over her skin, the way her hair escaped the confinement of her buns, that made him pause for a second before he shook her awake. And then the second would stretch into a minute, and the minute would stretch into an hour.

Tenten never noticed his habitual tardiness in waking her for her watch. Neji had the cover of night to thank for that. The darkness made it near impossible to keep track of time. But nevertheless, Neji harbored a tiny, nagging fear that one day, she would turn to him and demand the reason behind his self-enforced delay.

And Neji had a sinking feeling that he would not know the answer.

A small whimper pierced the still night, interrupting his thoughts. Neji whipped his head toward the direction of the sound. His eyes widened.

Tenten was clutching her blanket like her life depended on it, her knuckles turning bone white from the force of her grip. Beads of sweat dotted her hairline as she curled into a tight ball.

Neji was alarmed. Clambering to his feet, he was at Tenten's side in an instant, checking her forehead for signs of fever. But instead of burning heat, he encountered a clammy coolness. The type of clammy coolness most often associated with fear. Withdrawing his hand from her forehead, Neji watched as his teammate's shoulders shook like a brittle leaf in the wind. Was Tenten having a…nightmare?

A soft cry escaped Tenten's lips, followed by a single word.

"Neji…"

Neji blanched. Was he in Tenten's nightmare? Was he the _subject_ of her nightmare?

"Neji…please!" A tear leaked from the corner of Tenten's closed eyes, meandering slowly down the slope of her cheek. "Please…stay. Don't go…"

Without consciously registering his actions, Neji took Tenten's clammy hand in his and squeezed her palm in reassurance. A thousand words spun through his mind, bursting to get out. _I'm right here. I won't go. I will stay. Always._ But he kept the words tightly under lock and key, pushing them to the back corner of his mind.

Tenten's fingers were crushing his hand in a rigid death grip. Neji winced, but didn't pull away, allowing her to squeeze all her anguish and fear into his palm.

"Tenten," he finally said, trying to keep his voice stern and in control. "Tenten, wake up."

All of a sudden, the pressure on his hand eased. Tenten bolted upright from the bedroll, her eyes snapping open to reveal two blank pools of amber. "N…Neji?" she breathed unsteadily.

He nodded in a business-like manner and started to stand up. "You were having a nightmare," he informed her matter-of-factly.

But before he could get to his feet, Tenten threw her arms around his shoulders and buried her face in the front of his shirt.

Neji was stunned into stillness. He could only sit there, speechlessness painted across his features as Tenten's soft sighs vibrated through his chest.

"Neji…you're here."

He did not reply – did not know _how_ to reply – so he simply stayed still, letting Tenten burrow her nose into the folds of his shirt.

"What…what were you dreaming about?" he asked at last. There were times when silence became too stifling even for him.

Tenten pulled away, tilting her chin to look at him with glassy brown eyes. "It's a recurring dream I have – a dream about _that_ day." A small shudder ran through her slight shoulders.

Neji didn't ask her elaborate. He knew Tenten like he knew his blind spot, and he knew she would explain without prompting when she was ready to do so.

He felt rather than heard Tenten take a deep breath and open her mouth to speak.

"It was the day you and your team were brought back to Konoha after the failed Sasuke retrieval mission." Her voice was thin and strained, but she forged on. "I was hanging around just inside the gates, waiting for you to stride through in that signature collected way of yours, with a repentant Sasuke in tow. I expected to see a slightly haughty smirk on your lips, a quietly triumphant light in your eyes. But instead…"

Seemingly of its own accord, Neji's hand tightened over Tenten's. He knew what was coming next.

"Instead I saw you carried in on a stretcher. The first thing I noticed was that your hair was undone, streaked through with dirt and dried blood, framing your pale face like a death shroud." Tenten's eyes squeezed shut for a moment. "Then I saw the wounds…and…and…" Her fingers constricted over his, and there was a long pause as she struggled to continue. "Oh, Neji – they were so horrible! Two gaping holes that tore straight through your body, seeming to suck the life right out of you."

Neji's free hand absently found its way to the scar just below his left shoulder, where Kidoumaru's first arrow had pierced him. "I'm okay now," he said, feeling the need to reassure her.

"Yes, that's true," Tenten conceded, her lashes lowering as she looked away. "But I can't help but remember the moment they told me you were halfway between life and death, with death being the more likely outcome. You were in critical condition for almost fourteen hours as Shizune operated on you." Her teeth caught the edge of her lower lip as the memories overwhelmed her. "Those were the longest fourteen hours of my life. Just sitting outside the operating room, twiddling my thumbs…helpless and very nearly hopeless."

Without a word, Neji pulled her back into his arms, tucking her head neatly against his chest. He turned his hand until it lay palm-to-palm against Tenten's, and interlaced his fingers with hers.

He told himself that he was only doing this for the good of the mission. It wouldn't do to have the team equilibrium disrupted by something as trivial and intangible as a nightmare. Moreover, as Tenten's teammate – and possibly the person closest to her in all the world – Neji held himself responsible for her physical and emotional well-being. He was driven by duty, pure and simple.

But as he sat there with Tenten cradled in his arms, her breath sifting through the starchy folds of his shirt, Neji was struck by a strange and incomprehensible feeling that this was all somehow…exactly right.

_I'm right here. I won't go. I will stay. Always._

-x-

Uchiha Sasuke was rarely – if ever – taken by surprise. But when he woke up in the middle of the night, cracking his eyes open in the penetrating dark, he was hard-pressed to keep his jaw from dropping.

Because framed by the glow of the firelight, leaning into each other like they had been born that way, were Neji and Tenten.

Even though no one could see him, Sasuke's eyebrow hiked up of its own accord. _Looks like the plan has moved on to Phase Two…_

As if sensing the subtle shift in the atmosphere, Neji snapped his eyes upward, his gaze locking directly with Sasuke's. The Hyuga's eyes widened.

"U – Uchiha," Neji stammered. The last syllable came out an octave higher than normal.

The corner of Sasuke's mouth kicked up at the thought that Tenten could reduce Neji's speech patterns to that of a pre-pubescent boy.

Neji extricated himself from Tenten's hold and laid her carefully back on her bedroll. Sasuke snuck a glance at the kunoichi. She was already fast asleep, her face more at peace than he had ever seen it.

"Tenten was having a nightmare," Neji announced, his trademark calm arrogance reinstated into his voice.

Sasuke smirked. _Whatever_.

The hard line of Neji's jaw stiffened at Sasuke's silent mockery. "Since you're already up, why don't you take the second watch." His words were more of a command than a question.

Sasuke shrugged and climbed out of his bedroll. "Are you sure you don't want to trade spots?" he shot out offhandedly, staring meaningfully at the three feet of space between his and Tenten's bedrolls.

Neji didn't bother to reply; he simply strode to his own bedroll at the far edge of the clearing and climbed in. But as he tucked his headband neatly under his pillow, he couldn't resist one last gibe at the Uchiha's expense. "For your sake, I hope Sakura doesn't have a nightmare tonight."

All he got in reply was a vehement "_Hn_."

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><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>My apologies for the later-than-usual update. School and fanfiction are hard-pressed to coexist with one another :P Hopefully the massive amount of NejiTen fluff made up for my negligence. (NejiTen for the win!) In other news: 101 reviews! *airhugs for all of you* Thank you so much!

On an unrelated note: I found the _cutest_ flash animation of Neji and Tenten the other day. It's set to the song "Accidentally in Love" (from Shrek! XD). What a fitting title. If you want to squeal with fangirly delight, just delete the spaces: www. newgrounds. com / portal / view / 523821


	13. Breaching the Distance

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto (yet).

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><p>An hour into his watch, Sasuke took off his shirt to check the wound he'd sustained during his fight with the rogue ninja. (Every fangirl within a fifty-mile radius fainted dead away).<p>

After peeling away the hastily-tied bandage, he frowned down at the rough ridge of wounded flesh that slashed diagonally across his chest. It was only an external wound, but if he didn't treat it properly, there was a high chance it would scar.

Not that Sasuke was against having a few battle scars, of course. It was just…there was no _glory_ in being injured by a band of insignificant rogue ninjas.

He methodically removed the bandages from his skin before reaching into his knapsack to pull out a jar of ointment. As he rummaged around for a cotton swab, a soft voice threaded through the night, stopping him in his tracks.

"That drugstore stuff's not very effective. I have better ointment for your wound."

Sasuke jerked his gaze upward. Sakura was making her way toward him, a small green jar in her hand. The cherry red of her shirt seemed to at once clash with and blend into her dark surroundings.

Sakura fished a square of cotton gauze from the pouch strapped to her waist. She knelt in front of Sasuke, barely a breath's away from touching him. Discomfited by her closeness, Sasuke unconsciously crossed his arms over his bare chest. He was surprised to see a small twinkle flash in Sakura's eyes.

"Don't worry, Sasuke," she said, a smile of amusement curving her lips. "I'm not going to ogle."

He grunted out a half-hearted "Hn," but nevertheless lowered his arms stiffly to his sides.

And Sakura tried very, very hard not to ogle.

Sasuke had a chest that would make the gods of Olympus weep with envy. A chest that would compel even the most staid of elderly matrons to blush like schoolgirls. A chest that reduced fangirls (even former fangirls like herself) to useless piles of marshmallow fluff. It was broad and muscled, an expanse of taut skin peppered by tiny scars.

"Are you done yet?"

Sakura's cheeks turned as pink as her hair. But when she glanced up, she was surprised to see that Sasuke's face was turned away from her. His eyes were squeezed shut, and his jaw was locked in visible tension. Sakura frowned as she examined his wound more carefully. Could it be worse than it looked?

Sasuke held his breath as Sakura's feather-light fingertips flitted across his chest, running along the scabbed ridges of his wound. He breathed in the smell of soap and cherry blossoms, coupled with the heady odor of ointment. His fingers dug into the grass beneath him as cool cotton glided across his skin. Every so often, the treatment is more painful than the injury itself.

Sakura hummed to fill the silence – a quaint countryside tune she had picked up in her genin days. As she unrolled a pack of bandages, she saw Sasuke crack open a single eyelid to watch her work.

"Do you always hum to your patients?"

Sakura snipped a length of bandage and tilted her chin to meet his gaze. "It depends," she said with a shrug. "Some people prefer silence, so I don't breathe a word. Some are more at ease when they talk, so I chatter about anything and everything. And some can't stand silence, but aren't comfortable with conversation, so I simply hum."

Sasuke's other eye opened, and he turned to look at her full on. "Don't you think I'm the type that would prefer silence?"

Sakura leaned forward to wrap the bandage across his wound. She avoided his eyes as she tied the ends of the white fabric into a compact knot. "Sometimes, even the most silent of people needs a little music in their lives."

Sasuke didn't reply, so Sakura continued to hum. She packed up her medical supplies, her hands moving automatically as she lost herself in the simple charm of the notes slipping through her lips.

"Can't you hum a different song?" Sasuke blurted out.

Sakura's hands paused in their movements. "Why?"

His mouth twitched in vague agitation. "This song is so… so… _quaint_." He spat out the word like it was poisonous.

Sakura tried to suppress a smile. "That's what makes it so beautiful," she explained. "Its simplicity." She peered up at Sasuke through her lashes. "Life isn't always about ambition, you know."

His dark eyes caught hers. "Maybe," he conceded. "But it isn't about settling for whatever comes along your way, either."

Sakura sucked in a breath. "Is that why you left?" she burst out before her mind could fully work out the implications. "Because you didn't want to settle for Konoha? For Team Seven? For Naruto? For _me_?"

Sasuke looked away, pinning his gaze on a tree across the clearing. "I thought we were talking about a song," he grunted.

A flash of annoyance crossed Sakura's face. "We _were_," she shot back, "until you started getting all vague and metaphorical."

"Tch. You're as annoying as ever."

A single pink brow shot up on Sakura's forehead. "Yeah? Well, 'angsty' is still your middle name. That hasn't changed either."

Sasuke was caught off-guard despite himself. She _never_ would have said that six years ago…

Sakura spoke into his silence. "Put on your shirt, Sasuke. You've already knocked out every fangirl the next town over."

He glared at her, but complied nonetheless, slipping his shirt over his shoulders and slotting his hands through the armholes.

Picking up her pouch, Sakura started to stand up.

"Sakura."

She froze, brushing the hair out of her face to meet Sasuke's eyes.

"It's not that I didn't want to settle for you and Naruto and Konoha." His gaze fell to the ground, where the toe of his ninja sandal was tracing tiny circles in the dirt. "It's just…I didn't deserve to settle for all that."

Sakura stood and took a step forward, breaching the distance between them. She looked down into Sasuke's face, her green eyes intense and serious.

"Hate and vengeance runs through my blood," he continued. "People like me…don't deserve to settle."

The ensuing silence lasted seven heartbeats. Sasuke knew, because he was counting.

Abruptly, Sakura reached out a fine-boned hand, and before Sasuke could swerve away… she patted the top of his head.

Dumbfounded, he could only stare as she turned and walked back to her bedroll.

People usually cowered in terror at the sight of him. One cold stare, and they were running away as fast as their legs could carry them. But no one – _no one_ – ever patted Uchiha Sasuke's head. It was simply not done.

Sakura laid back and traced the handle of the Little Dipper with her eyes. She whispered a single sentence, just loud enough to carry across the clearing.

"It's never too late to start, Sasuke-kun."

-x-

Tenten was mortified.

As the merciless dawn pierced through the last vestiges of night, reality crept in on silent feet. Snatches of memory flashed through her mind, each more embarrassing than the last. She had been alone in her fear, trapped by an irrepressible nightmare. But then Neji had found her, saved her. He had shrouded her fears in a cloak of dreams. In the end, though…it was just that – a cloak of dreams – nothing substantial, nothing tangible.

Tenten sat up, shivering slightly as the chilly morning air snuck under her collar. Flicking her eyes to the right, her gaze immediately snapped to Neji's bedroll. It was empty, with nary a wrinkle creasing its surface. The tension ebbed from Tenten's shoulders. Neji was such a neat freak. The day she woke up to see his bedroll rumpled would be the day Gai-sensei started wearing orange.

Gingerly climbing to her feet, Tenten stretched her arms and tilted her face toward the weak sunlight. It was oddly relaxing, rejuvenating almost, to envelop herself in the gray cast of early morning. It made her forget the paths she had tread, and the paths she had yet to walk. It made her feel like she could –

_SNORE. _

Tenten jolted in surprise, pivoting to find the source of the noise that sounded like a cross between an angry bull and a dying elephant.

Less than five feet to her left, Naruto was propped against a tree, snores that rivaled thunderstorms escaping from his open mouth. Tenten planted her hands on her hips. This was his idea of watch duty?

Flipping her side pouch open, Tenten rummaged around until her fingers touched the cool, deadly steel of her shuriken set. An impish smile curled her lips. Then, with her trademark casual yet unnervingly accurate aim, she flung a shuriken straight at Naruto, nodding in satisfaction when it embedded itself less than a millimeter above the blond boy's head.

_SNORE_.

Tenten raised her eyebrows. It was an unspoken prerequisite that all ninjas were notoriously light sleepers. And yet, here was Naruto…

` Tenten leveled a set of three shuriken a fractional millimeter away from Naruto's left ear, left shoulder, and left elbow. She repeated the maneuver on the right, deliberately striking the weapons into the tree bark with as much force as possible. _Thwack, thwack, thwack_. A few feet away, Sasuke cracked an eye open, took one look at the ring of shuriken surrounding Naruto, and promptly fell back asleep.

Tenten bit her lip in amusement. It was turning into a game now – how many shuriken could she embed in the tree before Naruto woke up? She was already up to seven. Tenten pulled out a fresh set of shuriken, flicking her wrist expertly as she released five in quick succession. Eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve…

…Sixty-eight, sixty-nine, seventy. Tenten shook her head in disbelief, staring down at her last shuriken. A gust of wind blew through the clearing, whistling through the trees and ruffling the leaves. A tiny slip of paper blew out of Naruto's pocket.

Out of pure instinct, Tenten threw her last shuriken, nailing the paper squarely in the bark. Closing the distance between her and Naruto, she squinted at the small white slip.

"Super Ramen Special," she read aloud, "Buy one bowl, get one free. Offer expires –"

As if some internal alarm clock had just sounded in his head, Naruto's eyes snapped open, the blue depths filled with ramen-lust. He crawled toward Tenten on all fours. "Ramen? Where? Where? Take me to it!"

Tenten tried to suppress her smile as she reached over Naruto and plucked the coupon from the tree. "If you want your Super Ramen Special, you're going to have to go through _me_," she teased, not wanting her little game to end. Concentrating chakra to her feet, Tenten raced up the nearest tree, the ramen coupon fluttering like a victory banner in her hand.

"NO ONE TAKES MY SUPER RAMEN SPECIAL AND GETS AWAY WITH IT!" Naruto bellowed, clumsily scrambling after Tenten.

But the weapons mistress had already vanished, leaping from tree to tree, her quick feet never faltering on the branches. All those times she had desperately tried to dodge Neji's Gentle Fist technique had made her swift and agile.

…But not swift and agile enough to avoid slamming into something large and hard as she sailed onto the next tree. Tenten's breath was knocked clear across Fire Country as she sprawled across the branch, staring into a pair of incomparable white eyes. Just as quickly as the air filtered back into her lungs, it was squeezed out again, compressed by a tumultuous combination of embarrassment and confusion and desire.

"Tenten…could you…could you perhaps…get off of me?"

It was as if every synapse of every neuron in Tenten's body had been severed. Because she absolutely _could not move_. "Uh…ah…um…" she stammered helplessly.

Neji cleared his throat, his muscles tense as he lay sandwiched between his teammate and the branch. He brought his hands up to Tenten's shoulders, fully intending to push her off. But once he made contact with the thin fabric of her shirt, it was as if every synapse of every neuron in his body had been severed. Because he absolutely _could not move_.

They might have stayed that way for an eternity, their breath mingling and their eyes locked in some inexpressible emotion, if not for a certain hyperactive knucklehead ninja.

"Neji and Tenten sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G."

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Hello, my wonderful, lovely readers! I have been neglecting you of late. Please accept this overload of SasuSaku and NejiTen fluff as my sincerest form of apology! Thank you for supporting me with your alerts and favorites and reviews. A reader is a writer's sustenance after all. :)

On a completely off note, does anyone else think Minato and Kushina are the cutest things to ever grace mankind? Watch out NejiTen and SasuSaku…you'll have to make room for MinaKushi in my heart. ;)


	14. Games and Trivialities

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto (yet).

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><p>Uchiha Sasuke was not only known for his razor sharp eyes. He was also renowned for his infallible hearing that could detect everything from the flutter of a scroll to the rhythm of a shadow clone's footsteps. And so, just as Sasuke stirred from the uneasy state of half-sleep that had been plaguing him the entire night, his ears were assaulted by a deafening taunt that broke the sound barrier from two hundred meters away.<p>

"Neji and Tenten sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a weapon-wielding white-eyed baby in a –"

Before Naruto could wrap up his playground taunt, the forest rang with the sound of metal drilling through bark and perhaps a few layers of fabric. If Sasuke concentrated extra hard, he could detect the faintest tremors of chakra points being closed off by the Gentle Fist technique.

Forget about K-I-S-S-I-N-G. Naruto was just plain S-T-U-P-I-D.

Sasuke shook his head in contempt as more shouts rang through the trees.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO… You aren't seriously going to dangle my Super Ramen Special in front of me while I'm hanging upside down from this tree branch, are you? I mean, Neji – I can understand. But Tenten-chan, you wouldn't be that cruel!"

Sasuke could practically hear the diabolical smile curving Tenten's lips in the silence that followed Naruto's plea. He sighed. Trust him to be best friends with Konoha's village idiot. As Sasuke ran a beleaguered hand through his hair, he heard another sound, this time just a few feet away.

Sakura's laugh.

He looked across the clearing, where Sakura was leaning against a tree, her head cocked toward Naruto's voice. As knuckleheaded blond grew increasingly desperate in his pleas for freedom and ramen, Sakura shook her head in amused resignation, a twinkle dancing across her eyes. Laughter creased the corners of her mouth as the morning sunlight caught the gleam of her teeth.

Sasuke wrenched his gaze away, annoyed with himself for staring like some weak-kneed lovelorn fool. He squeezed his eyes shut as her words from the night before ran through his mind. _It's never too late to start, Sasuke-kun._

Never too late, huh? Well, Sakura had always been an idealistic dreamer. Sasuke pulled himself up from his bedroll and almost immediately wished he hadn't.

"GOOD MORNING SAKURA-SAN, MY BLOOMING FLOWER OF YOUTH!"

Sasuke cringed as his eardrums imploded. Lee bounded into the clearing, a squirrel perched at the top of his head. It nonchalantly munched on an acorn as Lee deposited a mountain of wildflowers at Sakura's feet.

To his surprise, an embarrassed flush suffused Sakura's cheeks. "Lee, you've got to stop doting on me. It's…unhealthy." She smiled as she twirled the stem of a flower around her finger. "But thank you for the flowers. They're lovely."

Sasuke could barely stop himself from rolling his eyes. The first time they had met Lee right before the chuunin exams, Sakura had been so enamored with _him_ that she hadn't given Lee the time of day. Now she was fueling the lovesick fool's pointless infatuation with her innocent smiles and blushes.

Sakura stood, tucking one of Lee's flowers in her hair. "I'd better go check on Naruto. Heaven help us all if the idiot goes crazy with ramen withdrawal." She shot one more of her devastating smiles at her admirer before heading off in the opposite direction.

Sasuke took one look at the hearts visibly emanating from Lee's eyes and shook his head in disgust. He watched as Lee picked up a daisy and began to pluck the white petals off one by one.

"Sakura-san loves me… Sakura-san loves me not… Sakura-san loves me…"

Activating his Sharingan, Sasuke quickly counted the number of remaining petals. Then, satisfied that Lee would end on "Sakura-san loves me not," he made his way across the clearing and took a seat next to his teammate's number one admirer.

Lee blinked up at him, his expression as befuddled as that of the squirrel perched in his unfortunate bowl cut. "Oh, hello Sasuke! Are you here to enjoy the wondrous blooms of youth I have gathered this youthful morning?"

Sasuke glanced at the "wondrous blooms of youth" carpeting the forest floor and raised a sardonic eyebrow in response.

But Lee, being Lee, was immune to any and all forms of sarcasm and mockery. Holding up his half-denuded daisy, he announced, "This pure flower is a symbol of my undying devotion for Sakura-san." Ignoring Sasuke's flat stare, he continued, "If the petals of fate indicate that she loves me, then I will ride the winds of destiny and claim her heart as my own. But if these petals prophesize that she does not love me…" The force of Lee's resolute grip crushed the stem of the daisy. "If so, then I will defy fate itself and win her love with one hundred and ten percent determination! I will pile roses at her doorstep each and every morning! I will bake her oatmeal raisin cookies on Sunday afternoons! I will serenade her in Gai-sensei's old green jumpsuit reserved only for special occasions! I will –"

"Good for you," Sasuke quickly interjected. He leaned forward and skewered Lee with one of his patented "Answer Me or Prepare to Die" glares. "How many guys has Sakura gone out with in the past five years?"

Another guy would be taken aback from Sasuke's casual directness. But Lee simply looked up from his lopsided daisy, and without a single beat of hesitation, answered, "Seven."

Sasuke's left eye twitched, an unconscious indication that he was irritated. He had expected the number to be much smaller. Like two. Or one.

Or zero.

Before he could reflect on this turn of events, Lee piped up again. "Zero at age 14, zero at 15, two at 16, three at 17, and two so far this year."

"Was she…in a serious relationship with any of these…" _Morons. Imbeciles. Assholes. _"…people?"

A sudden shininess suffused Lee's eyes. Sasuke inched away, for fear that the overly emotional ninja would begin bawling.

"Sakura-san only went out on one date with six out of seven of those people," Lee finally said. His eyes turned glassy again. "If only I had such a wondrous chance to woo my splendid Sakura-san. Just a single date! That is all I need to –"

"And the seventh person?" Sasuke interrupted.

"The seventh person…Sakura-san went on TWO dates with him. It was the talk of the village for weeks afterwards, for it was the first time she had ever followed up with a second date."

Before Sasuke could pin him with an "Elaborate, or Else" glare, Lee leapt up, flashing a blinding smile that took up nearly half his face. Sasuke just barely dodged Lee's perky thumb's-up from gouging his left eye out.

"Fear not, Sasuke! I WILL persevere! I WILL get my date with Sakura-san, even if it costs me the full power of my youth!"

Sasuke was silent, patiently waiting out the storm. He lasted about five seconds. Before Lee could go into another fanatical tirade about youthfulness and Gai-sensei, Sasuke wisely cut in. "Who?" he demanded, careful to keep his voice flat and disinterested.

"Ah," Lee replied, "that lucky man would be my eternal rival…Hyuga Neji."

The wind picked up then, rushing through Sasuke's ears. Or was it simply his blood pounding through his head? Either way, Sasuke's muscles tensed, and he felt the inexplicable urge to strangle something.

Even Lee must have sensed the malevolent aura emanating from Sasuke's every pore, because he discreetly took a step backward, releasing the squirrel into the wild lest Sasuke was fond of animal abuse.

When Sasuke finally spoke, his voice was laced with tension. "Hyuga…went out with Sakura?"

Lee nodded solemnly. "And not just once. They went out on two dates. It was all anyone would talk about for the next month, because everyone knows that Sakura-san has been pining after you for an eternity and a half."

Sasuke froze. "Two dates?" he bit out. One, he could chalk up to a minor lapse in judgment on Sakura's part. But two? That had to mean Sakura actually liked the guy. Sasuke heard his teeth grind of their own volition.

Oblivious to the killing intent festering less than a foot away from him, Lee blabbered on. "When Neji took Sakura to dinner on their first date, there wasn't a soul in Konoha who didn't spy on them." At this point, he blushed. "Of course, I attempted to uphold my strict moral code and wish them the best of luck even though Neji is my greatest rival and Sakura my purest love, but even Gai-sensei had been curious."

Sasuke didn't speak, just flexed his fingers in frustration. Of all the people in Konoha, what did Sakura see in the Hyuga? Sasuke would almost have preferred it if she'd fallen head over heels in love with Lee. Because then, he could at least attribute it to the fact that she had gone insane and lost grasp on all sense. But the Hyuga… Damn. The Hyuga was actually a catch. And Sakura – for two entire dates – had let herself be caught. It should have been insignificant, really. Just a trivial fact in a world where trivialities usually spelled out your death sentence. But that didn't stop it from lodging in Sasuke's mind, stubbornly refusing to dispel.

-x-

In the end, Naruto was saved by his fussy pink-haired teammate who inadvertently mothered him at every mishap (which, considering it was Naruto, occurred at least thirty times a day). Neji and Tenten watched in amused silence as Sakura dragged Naruto away by his ear, the blond impassionedly shouting about ramen the entire way.

A heavy silence cloaked the forest, as if filling in the void where Naruto's boisterousness had been. Neji shifted slightly, sliding a glance at Tenten's profile out of the corner of his eye. He watched as she slipped Naruto's Super Ramen Special coupon into her pocket, a tiny half-smile curling the corner of her mouth.

He meant to say something flippant like "Naruto is an idiot." Or maybe something sensible like "We should get back." But instead, he asked, "Why were you smiling just then?"

The words surprised him, even as they were rolling off his tongue, finding purchase in the open air. It was rare that he ever asked Tenten a question, especially one that was so offhand, so seemingly insignificant.

Tenten must have sensed this to, because when she answered, there was a curious tilt to her dark brows. "Well…" she started slowly, "It's just…it's been so long since I've…" She paused, tapping a finger against her chin as she fished for the right words. "…since I've played a game," she finally said. "An honest-to-goodness game."

"A…game?" Neji drew out the words, as if it were a foreign concept.

"You know, like the crazy stuff we used to get up to during mid-morning break at the academy?" A soft chuckle slipped through Tenten's lips. "Okay, maybe not you, Mr. Top-of-the-Class. But you have to at least have some sort of recollection… Capture the Kunai? Duck Duck Ninja? Hokage-sama Says?" She looked at him expectantly.

Neji just gave her a blank look.

Tenten looked at him incredulously, as if he'd just committed some heinous crime right before her eyes. She shook her head gravely. "Geez, you were even more deprived than I thought."

Neji scowled. "I hardly call perfecting my kaiten with no guidance whatsoever _deprivation_."

His declaration was met by a single raised eyebrow. "Yup," Tenten muttered under her breath, "Disgustingly deprived."

He was just about to retort when Tenten suddenly glanced up, her eyes zeroing in on a long, broad tree branch. Neji bit back a groan as he saw the proverbial light bulb turn on in his teammate's head.

When she turned back to look at him, the grin on her face was far too wide, far too impish. "I think," she said, her brown eyes twinkling, "we ought to rectify that."

"And _I_ think," Neji returned, "we ought to get back to the clearing and act like responsible, duty-bound shinobi." He carefully enunciated the last three words, all the while shooting Tenten a pointed look.

But she seemed not to hear him, instead concentrating chakra to her feet and flying up the nearest tree. Landing soundly on the broad branch she had been eyeing earlier, Tenten smiled down at him, beckoning to him with one hand.

"I don't think –" Neji started to say, but ground to a mental halt as a ray of sun pierced through the canopy, shooting needles of bright pain into his eyes. "I really don't –" he tried again, but this time, it was Tenten's smile – not the sun – that froze the words on his tongue.

"Come on, Mr. Top-of-the-Class," she called down, her wide smile seeming to span a century. "It must be tough, being perfect all the time."

It was the summer heat. Or the intense morning light. Or some strange, unbreakable genjutsu that tugged him to the brink of sanity and sent him plummeting off. Whatever the reason, Neji felt his mouth forming an agreement even as his mind struggled to catch up. "Okay."

The first thing he saw when he landed on the tree branch was the astonishment splashed across Tenten's face. "You…you want to play a game? With me?" she managed to get out.

Neji raised his eyebrows. "If you're backing out now, then I'll just be on my way –"

"No, wait!" Tenten said hastily, grabbing his wrist as he turned. Both their gazes immediately fixed on where her fingers wrapped around his wrist, sending prickles of feeling down his arm.

Tenten pulled away jerkily and took two large steps backwards. "We have to start the game in this position," she announced authoritatively. "Now, take off your headband and tuck one strap into your waistband, like this." She demonstrated as she spoke, leaving the metal plate dangling at her side.

"This is silly," Neji scoffed. "If this is what you did all day, then I'd go back to leading a deprived childhood any day."

Tenten stuck her tongue out at him. "Are you playing or not?"

Neji rolled his eyes, but nevertheless did as she said. "Fine. Happy now?"

Once again, she seemed a little surprised that he had complied so easily. Frankly, he was surprised himself. And not so sure anymore that it was the sun or the heat or some obscure genjutsu that was triggering his odd behavior. But before he could over-think it, Tenten piped up again.

"All right. Now we stand on one leg…" She waited until he had mirrored her movements. "…and then we…GO FOR THE PRIZE!"

Neji barely had time to let the information sink in before he registered that Tenten was hopping toward him at lightning speed on one foot, the triumphant light of victory already dancing in her eyes as she lunged for his dangling headband.

Neji narrowed his eyes. He was a _very_ sore loser.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Holy flying pigs – has it really been two months since I've updated? With all the love of my new way-too-adorable Itachi plush, I beg your forgiveness! In my (very feeble) defense, I had been slaving over college apps…but I am ecstatic to say that I was accepted early action by my dream school last Thursday. :) So with these happy tidings, I've brought you this happy chapter. In case anyone was curious, Neji and Tenten are playing a form of "Chicken." Don't try this at home. ;) Thank you - all of you - for reading and reviewing! I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!


	15. Unexpectedly

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto (yet).

* * *

><p>Tenten was right about a lot of things. She had expected that Lee would fully recover from his surgery. She had expected that Naruto would ultimately become Konoha's strongest shinobi. She had expected – even through the darkest period of the war – that Sasuke would eventually return to the Leaf. But never would she have expected that Neji – serious, driven Neji – would be playing Chicken with her on a bright summer morning in an unknown forest en route to a D rank mission.<p>

And never, not in a thousand eons, would Tenten have expected the events that unfolded next. As her fingertips grazed the symbol engraved on Neji's headband, he leapt to the left, still balanced on one leg. Tenten yelped. "Neji, you blockhead, you're going to fall off if you –" Surprise cut her off mid-sentence. She peered over the edge of the branch disbelievingly.

Hanging upside down from the underside of the branch, his right foot firmly glued to the bark with glowing chakra, Neji smirked at her. _Smirked_.

Tenten gaped. "Hey, you're not allowed to use chakra!" she said indignantly. "It's not in the rules."

"Hn. Well, if you had been considerate enough to explain the rules _before_ you lunged at my headband, we could have avoided this," Neji pointed out.

"I assumed you would be a fast learner," Tenten replied defensively. "And not go around changing the rules at a whim!"

"Again, if I'd known the rules beforehand, I wouldn't have changed them, would I?"

Tenten suppressed the urge to stick her tongue out at him. "All right – point taken. But in light of this turn of events, I am going to CREAM you!" Before he could react, she flipped around the branch, paralleling his pose. "I was the reigning Chicken champion at the academy, and I'm not going to let some amateur pull one over me!"

Something blazed in Neji's white eyes. Tenten smiled inwardly to herself. Neji had a hidden competitive streak a mile wide. _Now_ it was going to get interesting.

She and Neji hopped toward each other at full tilt. When their headbands were in arm's reach, Neji feinted left, then spun to the right, faster than a blur. But Tenten wasn't the reigning champion for nothing. She knew every trick in the book. Waiting long enough for Neji's fingers to slide over the metal of her headband, Tenten focused chakra to the soles of her foot and launched herself through the air. She landed on the opposite side of Neji, a whisper away from the headband swinging at his side. She could almost feel victory sliding through her fingers.

But as she made a grab for his headband strap, Neji somersaulted up and over the branch, landing at the place where they had begun. His Leaf symbol caught the sunlight, glinting mockingly at Tenten. _Can you catch me?_ it seemed to say.

Tenten narrowed her eyes as she assessed the circumstances. If she followed him, it would give him a distinct advantage to take her by surprise. But if she stayed here, her chakra would drain away. It was a lose-lose situation.

Neji's voice came down from above her. "So this is the mighty academy champion? Frankly, this is too easy –"

"I'll show you easy!" Tenten shouted as she swung upward, kicking Neji's foot out from under him. "How easy it is to steal your headband, that is." She dove for the glinting metal as Neji reeled backward. But instead of collapsing splayed and defeated on the tree branch, he increased his backward momentum, using it to propel his body into a back handspring. He landed upright a few feet away, barely shaken.

Despite the threatening mien she tried to school her features into, the corner of Tenten's mouth kicked up in a grin. "Just you wait, Hyuga Neji. This game has only _begun_."

An answering smile curved Neji's lips. "The beginning of the end…for _you_."

And then – forgetting entirely that they were nineteen and not nine – the two rushed at each other, headbands slapping against their sides in a frenetic rhythm that rang through the trees.

-x-

"It's been twenty minutes," Sakura said, furrowing her brow. "What do you think they could be doing?"

From his impassive position across the clearing, Sasuke gave her his signature I-could-care-less-but-I'll-humor-you-anyways shrug. Sitting cross-legged beside him, Naruto let out a snicker. "Use your imagination," he chortled, blue eyes sparkling mischievously.

Sakura rolled her eyes at her blond teammate before addressing the group at large. "Let's go and look for them. We should get going, anyways. We're only a day and a half away from our destination."

Lee immediately sprang to action, sending the squirrels at his feet scampering for their lives. Giving her a sharp salute, he declared, "I will locate Neji and Tenten with the potent power of my youth!"

Sakura nodded at him, smiling despite herself. A few feet away, Sasuke glowered darkly.

"All right Lee," she said. "Just so you know, I believe they went –" The words had barely left her mouth before Lee flew into the thick canopy. "– that way," Sakura finished half-heartedly, her hand pointed in the opposite direction. She sighed, turning to Naruto and Sasuke. "Okay then. Let's head out."

"WAAAAAIIIIIIIITTTTTT!" Naruto cried, halting Sakura in her tracks. She looked at him expectantly. Naruto scratched his head, looking slightly uncomfortable. "I've got to…uh…take a whiz." Before Sakura could scowl at him, he scurried off into the forest, shouting a "Be right back!" over his shoulder.

Sasuke glanced at the place where Naruto had disappeared, rolling his eyes. "Let's go," he intoned wearily to Sakura. He started off in the direction she had pointed, not bothering to glance back to see if she had followed.

Sakura watched his back for a few moments, tracing the Uchiha symbol with her eyes. This was how it had been six years ago, on a bleak, cloudless night with a full moon. A departure. A betrayal. A farewell. Swallowing an emotion she couldn't quite place, Sakura hurried after Sasuke.

Leaning against a thick tree trunk, Naruto glanced out into the empty clearing and smiled. Humming with satisfaction, he sprawled out on the grass and fell asleep.

By the time Sakura finally caught up to Sasuke, she was already winded. Damn, but the guy was _fast_. "For heaven's sake," she puffed, "this isn't a freaking race, Sasuke."

He didn't even spare her a glance as he slowed his pace by a fraction of a second. The silence echoed around them, punctured only by the sound of Sakura's breathing as she struggled to match her strides to his.

"Have you ever been on a date?" Sasuke asked abruptly, startling her so much she stumbled over a tree root. His hand shot out to steady her, grasping her elbow with a surprisingly light touch. His fingers lingered on her skin for a few seconds, making sure she had regained her footing before pulling away.

Sasuke kept on moving through the forest, his pace unchanged, as if he hadn't just asked her the second most absurd question on the planet (the first, of course, being "Will you marry me?" and things of that nature). Sakura stood rooted to the spot, nonplussed. "_What_?"

Turning his head to look at her, Sasuke slowed to a stop. "I asked…have you ever been…on a date?" There was no hint of curiosity in his words, no sense of meaning or emotion.

Sakura searched his face for answers, but only found a frustrating, unreadable blankness. "Why do you want to know?" she replied, a touch of defiance weaving into her voice despite herself. There was something about the flatness of his tone that made her blood boil.

He looked at her for a long time, his expression as inscrutable as ever. The dark obsidian of his pupils flashed, so fleeting Sakura was sure she had imagined it. "Just…curious."

She planted her hands on her hips. "Curious, my foot," she rejoined snappishly. "You put the 'pathetic' in 'apathetic.'"

A hint of wry amusement threaded across his face. "A-pa-the-tic…" he drawled, as if testing the syllables on his tongue. He took a step toward her, halving the distance between them.

Sakura scowled at him. "As a matter of fact, I _have_ been on a few dates. What's it to you? You didn't seriously expect me to sit back on my heels all day and pine after you?"

This time, his impassivity slipped, leaving annoyance in its place. "Who says I cared? You can damn well become the loosest woman in Konoha, and I wouldn't bat an eyelash."

Sakura could feel her temper rising, surging hot and angry through her veins. "You can damn well go _die_ and tell me who'll be batting eyelashes then!" she snapped.

Sasuke smirked, brushing off her retort like it was an insignificant piece of lint. He took another step closer. "Did you enjoy your…dates?" Another question, another step. Sakura could feel the air constricting around her.

Straining to maintain her composure, Sakura turned her nose up at him. "They were exciting. Invigorating. Much more enjoyable than the power-hungry slaughter you were inevitably committing at the time."

"Exciting?" Sasuke repeated, the word burning on his tongue like acid. "Invigorating?" He was moving closer, compressing the leaves littering the forest floor. "How interesting."

Sakura inched backward, jumping slightly when her back hit the tree behind her. "Indeed," she said noncommittally. She looked up to shoot off a scathing rejoinder. But when she met his gaze full on, her tongue wilted.

There was a lifetime of emotion – heady and tangible – swirling in the depths of his eyes. Frustration. Uncertainty. Exasperation. Anger. It pulsed in the air between them, starkly intense, distinctly alive.

Sakura might have made a sound in her throat, but it could have been any one of the seventy thousand thoughts racing through her mind as Sasuke planted his palms on either side of her, effectively trapping her between himself and the tree.

_No, no, no, no, no… This is _not_ happening_. Sakura's brain screamed at her. Meanwhile, Inner Sakura was practically clapping with glee. _HELL yeah! This is definitely happening!_

Suppressing her recalcitrant inner self, Sakura placed her hand firmly on Sasuke's shoulder, fully intending to push him away. But as if sensing her intent, Sasuke leaned closer, until the tip of his nose touched hers. Sakura's breath hitched. _Push him away now!_ her rapidly disintegrating rationality screeched._ Come on Sakura, you can do it. Just…one…push._

But as Sasuke's mouth hovered an infuriating inch away from hers, Sakura felt her hand slide from his shoulder. Her fingers trailed down his chest, stopping at a spot perilously close to his heart. This time, it was Sasuke's breath that hitched. _So he feels it, too_…

Sakura's eyes drifted shut. Her lips parted. Her heart drummed an erratic melody in her chest. She could feel the rise and fall of Sasuke's breath sifting across her skin, the steady _ba-dump ba-dump_ of his heart beating beneath her fingertips.

And then… Air. Nothingness. A memory, lost and forgotten. Sakura's eyes snapped open, unable at first to register the empty space before her.

Sasuke stood at least two feet away, arms crossed nonchalantly across his chest. The phantom of a smirk touched his lips.

"What was it you said about not pining after me?"

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Merry Christmas, everyone! Or Happy Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Three Kings Day/Ramadan/St. Lucia Day/any other lovely December holiday. I've been reading a lot of excellent literature lately (both of the "real" and fanfiction variety), so there are quite a few hyperactive plot bunnies bouncing around in my head. In the spirit of the holidays, I bring you a chapter that is actually (gasp!) updated in a timely fashion. Your praise and support will be my Christmas present this year. :)


	16. Tasting the Future

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto (yet).

_For my bestie Chocolvr69, who – despite (or maybe because of) her obsession with shirtless guys, piano players, and Itachi Uchiha – made this a year to remember. :) And now…onward to Chapter 16!_

* * *

><p>Sakura socked him across the jaw. Hard.<p>

_There_. That would wipe the idiotic smirk off his face. She cracked her knuckles violently, watching in stony satisfaction as Sasuke reeled backwards, crashing unceremoniously against a tree trunk.

"What were you saying about me pining after you?" Sakura fisted her hands at her hips in an effort to keep her tone cold and carefully controlled. Coated with iron, laced with steel. Inside, she was a tangled and bewildered mess, a million different emotions rocketing through her bloodstream and aggravating her frayed nerve endings. But she would be _damned_ if she let Sasuke see even an ounce of that.

A tension-clogged second passed before Sasuke pushed himself off from the tree, his coal-black eyes glowering at her. He raised a hand to his jawbone, wincing as his fingers grazed the rapidly spreading bruise. As he took in the tightness of Sakura's features and the fierce set of her chin, his mind rewound through the past sixty seconds.

A flash of anger seared through him. Anger at Sakura, for pushing him off the brink of rationality. Anger at himself, for his frustrating inability to confine his emotions in a dark and obscure corner of his mind. Anger at Naruto, for leaving the two of them alone. Anger at Neji, for having the gall to take Sakura on two dates. _Two_ fucking dates.

"Why did you do that?" Sakura's steely voice broke through his thoughts like a sword slicing through flesh. "Why?"

Sasuke clenched and unclenched his fists, ruthlessly curbing the outpouring of "_I don't know dammit, I DON'T KNOW!_" that threatened to burst from him. He'd already had one lapse of control; he couldn't afford another. So instead, Sasuke fixed his gaze on Sakura, careful to conceal his inner turmoil beneath a layer of icy indifference as he gave his answer.

"I did it…because I could."

It was true, in a way. Sasuke didn't know what the hell had possessed him to close the distance between him and Sakura…to trap her against the tree and breathe in her intoxicatingly familiar scent…to lean in so close that their breaths became one… But he knew with cold certainty why he had pulled away. It was because he _could_.

Because if for some reason, he _couldn't_, Sasuke would know that he'd lost all control of his heart. Once he relinquished jurisdiction over his tightly confined emotions, chaos would break loose. And to someone like Uchiha Sasuke – someone who had spent a decade painstakingly constructing an insurmountable barrier around his heart – that was entirely unacceptable.

Sasuke stood still, his back rigid and his features hard, as he forced himself to watch the play of emotions across Sakura's face. They flashed across her countenance like clockwork, exactly as he had predicted. First, disbelief. Then a flicker of hurt. And finally, a stiff mask of anger.

But in the space of a breath, all traces of feeling vanished from Sakura's face. Instead, a dispassionate smirk twisted her lips, mirroring the chilly remoteness in her eyes. Shock tore through Sasuke's gut, lodging disconcertingly within him.

"It's funny how you say that." Sakura's voice seemed distant, detached, and yet all too real. "Why do you think I didn't push you away?" She let the question linger in the air for a single strained moment before continuing. "It wasn't because I _couldn't_, but rather because I _could_…and chose not to." Sakura forced the blatant lies through her teeth, all the while maintaining a frozen façade, her gaze unwavering and impassive. Two could play at this game. "Did it ever occur to you, Sasuke…that I was toying with you? That I was simply biding my time, to see how far you'd go?"

She searched his face, watching for the aftereffects of her words. But there was no flare of incredulity, no sign of pain or confusion or even irritation. Just the same exasperating blankness.

Sakura took a deep breath through her nose, and let it out slowly through her mouth. It didn't help. She had already reached her boiling point.

"Go to hell, Uchiha Sasuke," she snapped. And then, after impaling him with her deadliest glare, she turned on her heel and strode away. Away from this madness, this mess. Away from the insanity that threatened to overturn her entire world.

Sasuke waited until her footsteps had faded into the foliage before he slammed a fist into the tree behind him, viciously denting the bark.

It didn't make him feel any better.

-x-

"This…is harder…than Gai-sensei's…endurance…training," Neji said between heavy breaths, completely winded after twenty minutes of intense nonstop Chicken.

"But you wouldn't…stand a chance…against Gai-sensei…in this game," Tenten managed to gasp out, equally breathless as she crouched into a defensive stance, a difficult position considering she was still balanced on one leg.

"And you…would?" Neji cocked an eyebrow, all the while eyeing the headband dangling from his teammate's waist.

Tenten scoffed at him. "I can hold…my own…against _anyone_."

"Hold your own, perhaps…but can you…_win_?"

Before Tenten could even blink, Neji was flying at her, his arm aimed straight at the Leaf insignia on her headband. In a last-ditch effort to dodge him, Tenten lunged to the left, twisting away from Neji and losing her balance in the process.

But she had planned it that way. It was her trump card – a secret weapon she only used on the wiliest of opponents. It never failed. Ever.

As her leg gave out beneath her, Tenten threw her momentum forward, pitching her entire body towards Neji's headband. She made no move to grab it, intending to catch him off guard. It worked. Capitalizing on his confusion, Tenten rammed her head into his stomach. She inwardly cheered as he landed with an audible thump on the tree branch. _Now_. Her arm shot out in a frightening burst of speed, tearing through the air toward her bounty. _Yes_. Fingers curling around the metal plate, she ripped Neji's headband away and gave a triumphant whoop. Tenten looked up, a victorious expression already painted across her face.

Neji slowly picked himself up. And then, in a moment that wiped the smile right off of Tenten's face, a self-satisfied grin stole across his features. He held up his left hand, flashing her headband at her.

"How…what…_when_…?" Tenten sputtered.

"When you were preoccupied with stealing my headband," Neji replied, a smug smile still sitting on his lips.

"So we…TIED?" Tenten burst out, her voice saturated with indignation and a touch of wounded pride.

"Hn." Neji snorted. "You can think what you like. But I most assuredly grabbed your headband before you grabbed mine."

Tenten opened her mouth to reply. But rather than a scathing retort, a surprised giggle came out instead. She took one look at Neji's face – his proud, regal features quickly melting into irritated confusion – and the chuckles bubbling up inside her chest turned into full-blown guffaws. She laughed like she had never laughed before, laughed with her sides shaking, laughed until her insides hurt.

And all Neji could do was stare. At first, he stared because his usually levelheaded teammate had apparently gone completely, utterly, inexplicably insane. But then, he simply stared because he could not have looked away even if the continuation of his clan's kekkei genkai depended on it. The slanting sunbeams formed a weightless frame, with Tenten as the centerpiece. Her eyes were shut, long lashes fanning across her skin. Her eyebrows drew together, scrunching across her brow, as she put a loosely fisted hand up to her mouth to stifle the giggles.

_This could be my reality_, Neji thought absently, the pad of his thumb running across the emblem on Tenten's headband, still clutched in his hand. _Every day. Just sitting on a tree branch and watching Tenten laugh, without a care in the world._

His headband was suddenly thrust under his nose, halting his dangerous train of thought. Tenten was grinning at him, the corners of her mouth indenting her cheeks.

"Next time," she said. "I am _so_ going to –"

"Lose again?" Neji cut in.

Tenten skewered him with a glare. "Kick your ass," she finished matter-of-factly.

Neji just smirked, grabbing his proffered headband and leaning forward to return Tenten's.

Somehow, as their respective headbands changed hands, Neji and Tenten ended up knocking heads. And somehow, as Tenten was rubbing a palm across her temple, Neji ended up taking her chin in his hand, tilting it upward to inspect her forehead. For some unfathomable reason, as Neji paused to run his fingertips along the bruise, Tenten ended up reaching forward and turning his face towards hers. And beyond all bounds of logic and sanity, as both were caught in each other's eyes, their lips ended up locking in a kiss.

It wasn't a bright, intense flare of passion. Nor was it a fiery meeting of barely-repressed ardor. No, this kiss was tentative, cautious. A soft brushing of lips, a gentle melding of hearts. But there was something more to it. Something intense and incredible. Something that was almost…inevitable.

_Yes, that was the word_, Neji thought distractedly as he slanted his mouth across Tenten's, unconsciously deepening the kiss. _Inevitable_. Their noses bumped lightly, and Neji breathed in the scent of fresh soap and spring grass. It was as if he'd been an aimless shadow wandering through life, waiting to experience this exact moment – watching Tenten laugh, pulling her close, kissing her and tasting the future on her lips. It almost felt like fate had been twiddling its thumbs, expecting this of him all along.

A startled shiver slid down Neji's spine as the thoughts digested in his mind. _Expected of him…expected of him…expected of him…_ The familiar words reverberated through his skull like bells at a funeral.

Neji certainly knew what was expected of him, and nowhere in those expectations could fit even a small sliver of breathing room for an impulsive, unprompted kiss. Especially with his _teammate_, of all people.

Frantic anxiety seized his brain. Neji wrenched himself away, doubling the distance between him and Tenten. His heart hammered inside his chest, the sound throbbing painfully through the corridors of his mind. His breathing was forced and unsteady as he gathered up the courage to meet Tenten's gaze.

What he saw nearly knocked him off the tree branch. Neji could almost see himself reflected in Tenten's eyes, wide with disbelief and glassy with…

A pang seized his chest, hurting more than a hundred chakra-laden jabs to his vitals. Was that elusive, indefinable expression in her eyes…regret?

Neji couldn't pinpoint the black tightness that squeezed mercilessly around his heart. All he knew was that he felt like a broken-winged bird being forced back into his cage…and he couldn't stand it. He was certain of what Tenten would say next, could even see her lips forming the words. _Neji, this can't happen again_, she'd tell him, her tone apologetic. And then she'd put her hand on his shoulder, or hug him as if he were a small child, or some other maddening gesture. So Neji did the only thing he could to salvage the situation.

He beat her to the punch.

Pasting a look of haughty indifference on his face, he looked Tenten squarely in the eye. "From this point forward, what happened today can _never_ repeat itself."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>Happy New Year's Eve to you all! And THANK YOU for the spectacular influx of lovely reviews. They were a wonderful epilogue to a wonderful year. :) You guys are amazing!


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